CHAPTER XX
.
_Exploit of the Swedes in Pomerania..... Skirmishes between the Prussians and Austrians in Saxony..... Position of the Armies in Saxony and Silesia..... General Laudohn defeats General Fouquet, and reduces Glatz..... and then undertakes the Siege of Breslau, which is relieved by Prince Henry of Prussia..... The King of Prussia makes an unsuccessful Attempt upon Dresden..... He marches into Silesia..... Defeats General Laudohn, and raises the Blockade of Schweidnitz..... Action between General Hulsen and the Imperial Army in Saxony..... Dangerous Situation of the Prussian Monarch..... The Russians and Austrians make an Irruption into Brandenburgh, and possess themselves of Berlin..... The Ring of Prussia defeats the Austrians at Torgau..... Both Armies go into Quarters of Cantonment..... The Diets of Poland and Sweden assembled..... Intimation given by the King of Prussia to the States of Westphalia..... King of Poland’s Remonstrance..... Reduction of Pondicherry..... Part of the British Squadron wrecked in a Storm..... Death of King George II..... His Character..... Recapitulation of the principal Events of his Reign..... His Death universally lamented..... Account of the Commerce of Great Britain..... State of Religion and Philosophy..... Fanaticism..... Metaphysics and Medicine..... Mechanics..... Genius..... Music..... Painting, and Sculpture_
EXPLOIT OF THE SWEDES IN POMERANIA.
The king of Prussia, after all his labours, notwithstanding the great talents he had displayed, and the incredible efforts he had made, still found himself surrounded by his enemies, and in danger of being-crushed by their closing and contracting their circle. Even the Swedes, who had languished so long, seemed to be roused to exertion in Pomerania, during the severity of the winter season. The Prussian general Manteuffel had, on the twentieth day of January, passed the river Peene, overthrown the advanced posts of the enemy at Ziethen, and penetrated as far as the neighbourhood of Griessewalde; but finding the Swedes on their guard, he returned to Anclam, where his head-quarters were established. This insult was soon retaliated with interest. On the twenty-eighth day of the month, at five in the morning, a body of Swedes attacked the Prussian troops posted in the suburbs of Anclam, on the other side of the Peene, and drove them into the city, which they entered pell-mell. General Manteuffel, being alarmed, endeavoured to rally the troops; but was wounded and taken, with about two hundred men, and three pieces of cannon. The victors, having achieved this exploit, returned to their own quarters. As for the Russian army, which had wintered on the other side of the Vistula, the season was pretty far advanced before it could take the field; though general Tottleben was detached from it, about the beginning of June, at the head of ten thousand cossacks, and other light troops, with which he made an irruption into Pomerania, and established his head-quarters at Belgarden.
SKIRMISHES BETWEEN THE PRUSSIANS AND
AUSTRIANS IN SAXONY.
At the beginning of the campaign, the king of Prussia’s chief aim was to take measures for the preservation of Silesia, the conquest of which seemed to be the principal object with the court of Vienna. While the Austrian army, under mareschal count Daun, lay strongly intrenched in the neighbourhood of Dresden, the king of Prussia had endeavoured, in the month of December, to make him quit that advantageous situation, by cutting off his provisions, and making an irruption into Bohemia. For these purposes he had taken possession of Dippeswalde, Maxen, and Pretchendorff, as if he intended to enter Bohemia by the way of Passberg: but this scheme being found impracticable, he returned to his camp at Fribourg, and in January the Prussian and Austrian armies were cantoned so near each other, that daily skirmishes were fought with various success. The head of the Prussian camp was formed by a body of four thousand men under general Zettwitz, who, on the twenty-ninth day of January, was attacked with such impetuosity by the Austrian general Beck, that he retreated in great confusion to Torgau, with the loss of five hundred men, eight pieces of artillery, and a considerable quantity of new clothing and other baggage. Another advantage of the same nature was gained by the Austrians at Neustadt, over a small body of Prussians who occupied that city. In the month of Maroh, general Laudohn advanced with a strong detachment of horse and foot, in order to surprise the Prussians, who, in attempting to effect a retreat to Steinau, were surrounded accordingly, and very roughly handled. General Laudohn summoned them twice by sound of trumpet to lay down their arms; but their commanders, the captains Blumenthal and Zettwitz, rejecting the proposal with disdain, the enemy attacked them on all hands with a great superiority of number. In this emergency the Prussian captains formed their troops into a square, and by a close continued fire kept the enemy at bay; until, perceiving that the Croats had taken possession of a wood between Siebenhausen and Steinau, they, in apprehension of being intercepted, abandoned their baggage, and forced their way to Steinau, which they reached with great difficulty, having been continually harassed by the Austrians, who paid dear for this advantage. Several other petty exploits of this kind were achieved by detachments on both sides, before the campaign was begun by the grand armies.
POSITION OF THE ARMIES IN SAXONY AND SILESIA.
Towards the end of April the king of Prussia altered his position, and withdrew that part of his chain of cantonments, extending from the forest of Thurundt to the right of the Elbe. He now took possession of a very strong camp between the Elbe and the Mulda, which he intrenched in every part that was accessible, and fortified with two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon. By these precautions he was enabled to keep his ground against the army of count Daun, and at the same time detach a body of troops, as a reinforcement to his brother prince Henry, who assembled a separate army near Franckfort upon the Oder, that he might be at hand either to oppose the Russians, or march to the relief of Silesia, which the enemy was bent upon invading. It was for this purpose that the Austrian general Laudohn advanced, with a considerable army, into Lusatia about the beginning of May; and general Beck, with another body of troops, took possession of Corbus: meanwhile count Daun continued in his old situation on the Elbe; general Lascy formed a small detached army upon the frontiers of Saxony, to the southward of Dresden; and the prince de Deuxponts marched into the same neighbourhood with the army of the empire. Prince Henry of Prussia having encamped with his army for some time at Sagan, in Silesia, moved from thence to Gorlitz, in Lusatia, to observe the motions of general Laudohn, encamped at Koningsgratz; from whence, in the beginning of June, he marched into the country of Glatz, and advanced to the neighbourhood of Schweidnitz, which he seemed determined to besiege, having a train of eight pieces of cannon. With a view to thwart his designs, prince Henry reinforced the body of troops under general Fouquet; and at the same time he sent a detachment into Pomerania, under colonel Lessow, who defeated the rear guard of general Tottleben, and compelled that officer to evacuate Pomerania. By this time, however, mareschal Soltikoff had arrived from Petersburg, and taken the command of the grand Russian army, which passed the Vistula in June, and began its march towards the frontiers of Silesia.
GEN. LAUDOHN DEFEATS GEN. FOUQUET, AND REDUCES GLATZ.
In the month of June, general Laudohn made an unsuccessful attempt to carry Glatz by assault; but he succeeded better in his next enterprise. Understanding that general Fouquet, who occupied the posts at Landshut, had weakened himself by sending off detachments under the majors-general Zeithen and Grant, he resolved to attack him with such a superiority of number that he should not be able to resist. Accordingly, on the twenty-third day of June, at two in the morning, he began the assault with his whole army upon some redoubts which Fouquet occupied; and these were carried one after another, though not without a very desperate opposition. General Fouquet being summoned to surrender, refused to submit; and having received two wounds, was at length taken prisoner: about three thousand of his men escaped to Breslan; the rest were killed or taken: but the loss of the victors is said to have exceeded that of the vanquished. In July, general Laudohn undertook the siege of Glatz, which was taken after a very faint resistance; for, on the very day the batteries were opened against the place, the garrison abandoned part of the fortifications, which the besiegers immediately occupied. The Prussians made repeated efforts to regain the ground they had lost; but they were repulsed in all their attempts. At length the garrison laid down their arms, and surrendered at discretion. From this tame behaviour of the Prussians, one would imagine the garrison must have been very weak; a circumstance which we cannot reconcile with the known sagacity of the Prussian monarch, as the place was of great importance, on account of the immense magazine it contained, including above one hundred brass cannon, a great number of mortars, and a vast quantity of ammunition.
Laudohn, encouraged by this success at Glatz, advanced immediately to Breslau, which he began to bombard with great fury [564] _[See Note 4 P, at the end of this Vol.]_; but, before he could make a regular attack, he found himself obliged to retire. Prince Henry of Prussia, one of the most accomplished generals which this age produced, having received repeated intelligence that the Russian army intended to join Laudohn at Breslau, resolved to advance and give them battle before the purposed junction. In the latter end of July he began his march from Gleissen, and on the last day of that month had reached Linden, near Slauve, where he understood that Tottleben’s detachment only had passed through the plains of Polnich-Lissa, and that the grand Russian army had marched through Kosten and Gustin. The prince finding it impossible to pursue them by that route, directed his march to Glogau, where he learned that Breslau was besieged by general Laudohn, and immediately advanced by forced marches to its relief. Such was his expedition, that in five days he marched above one hundred and twenty English miles; and at his approach the Austrian general abandoned his enterprise. Thus, by his prudence and activity, he not only prevented the junction of the Russian and Austrian armies, but also saved the capital of Silesia; and hampered Laudohn in such a manner as subjected him to a defeat by the Prussian monarch, to whose motions we shall now turn our attention.
THE KING OF PRUSSIA MAKES AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT UPON DRESDEN.
Whether his design was originally upon Dresden, or he purposed to co-operate with his brother prince Henry in Silesia, which his adversaries seemed to have pitched upon as the scene of their operations, we cannot presume to determine; but certain it is, he, in the beginning of July, began his march in two columns through Lusatia; and count Daun being informed of his march, ordered his army to be put in motion. Leaving the army of the empire, and the body of troops under Lascy, to guard Saxony in his absence, he marched with great expedition towards Silesia, in full persuasion that the Prussian monarch had thither directed his route. On the seventh day of July, the king knowing that Daun was now removed at a distance, repassed the Polsnitz, which he had passed but two days before, and advanced with the van of his army towards Lichtenberg, in order to attack the forces of general Lascy, who was posted there; but the Austrians retired at his approach. Then the army marched to Marienstern, where the king received intelligence that count Daun was in full march for Lauban, having already gained two marches upon the Prussians. Perhaps it was this intimation that determined the king to change his plan, and return to the Elbe. On the eighth day of the month he repassed the Sprehe, in the neighbourhood of Bautzen, and marched towards Dresden with extraordinary diligence. On the thirteenth, his army having passed the Elbe at Kadetz, on a bridge of boats, encamped between Pirna and Dresden, which last he resolved to besiege, in hopes of reducing it before count Daun could return to its relief. How far this expectation was well grounded, we must leave the reader to judge, after having observed that the place was now much more defensible than it had been when the last attempt of the Austrians upon it miscarried; that it was secured with a numerous garrison, commanded by general Macguire, an officer of courage and experience. This governor being summoned to surrender, answered that, having the honour to be intrusted with the defence of the capital, he would maintain it to the last extremity. Batteries were immediately raised against the town on both sides of the Elbe; and the poor inhabitants subjected to a dreadful visitation, that their calamities might either drive them to despair, or move the heart of the governor to embrace articles of capitulation; but these expedients proved ineffectual. Though the suburbs towards the Pirna gate were attacked and carried, this advantage made no impression on general Macguire, who made several vigorous sallies, and took every necessary precaution for the defence of the city; encouraged moreover by the vicinity of Lascy’s body, and the army of the empire, encamped in an advantageous position near Gross Seydlitz; and confident that count Daun would hasten to his relief. In this hope he was not disappointed. The Austrian general, finding himself duped by the stratagem of the Prussian monarch, and being made acquainted with his enterprise against Dresden, instantly wheeled about, and marched back with such rapidity, that on the nineteenth day of the month he reached the neighbourhood of the capital of Saxony. In consequence of his approach, the king of Prussia, whose heavy artillery was now arrived, redoubled his efforts against the city, so as to reduce to ashes the cathedral church, the new square, several noble streets, some palaces, together with the curious manufactory of porcelain. His vengeance must have been levelled against the citizens; for it affected neither the fortifications, nor the Austrian garrison, which count Daun found means to reinforce with sixteen battalions. This supply, and the neighbourhood of three hostile armies, rendered it altogether impossible to prosecute the siege with any prospect of success; the king therefore abandoned the undertaking, withdrew his troops and artillery, and endeavoured to bring Daun to a battle, which that general cautiously avoided.
The fate of this prince seemed now at its crisis. Notwithstanding all the efforts of his brother prince Henry, the Russians were fast advancing to join Laudohn, who had already blocked up Schweidnitz and Neifs, and their junction seemed to threaten the loss of all Silesia. The king had nothing to oppose to superior numbers but superior
## activity, of which he determined to avail himself without delay. Instead
of making a feint towards Silesia, he resolved to march thither in earnest; and for that purpose, crossing the Elbe, encamped at Dallwitz, on the further bank of the river; leaving general Hulsen, with fifteen thousand men, in the intrenched camp of Schlettow, to maintain his footing in Saxony. On the third day of August he began his march for Silesia, followed by count Daun with the grand Austrian army; while the detached body under Lascy took post at Reichenberg, and the imperial army encamped at Kesseldorf. Both the Prussians and Austrians marched at the rate of one hundred miles in five days; on the tenth the king took possession of the camp at Lidnitz; and here he seemed in danger of being quite surrounded by the enemy, who occupied the whole ground between Parchwitz and Cossendau, an extent of thirty miles. Count Daun’s army formed the centre of this chain, possessing the heights of Wahlstadt and Liochkirk; general Laudohn covered the ground between Jeschkendorf and Coschitz; the rising grounds of Parchwitz were secured by general Nauendorff; and M. de Beck, who formed the left, extended his troops beyond Cossendau. The king marched in the night of the eleventh, with a view to turn the enemy and reach Jauer; but at break of day he discovered a new camp at Prausnitz, which consisted of Lascy’s detachment, just arrived from Lauban. The Prussians immediately passed the Katzbach, to attack this general; but he made such a skilful disposition for a retreat towards the army of count Daun, that he not only baffled the endeavours of the king to bring him to action, but, by posting himself on the heights of Hennersdorff, anticipated his march to Jauer. In vain the Prussian monarch attempted next day to turn the enemy on the side of the mountains by Pomsen and Jagersdorff, the roads were found impassable to the ammunition waggons, and the king returned to the camp at Lignitz.
While he remained in this situation, he received advice that four-and-twenty thousand Russians, under count Czernichew, had thrown bridges over the Oder at Auras, where they intended to cross that river; and he concluded the enemy had formed a design to close him in, and attack him with their joint forces. Daun had indeed projected a plan for surprising him in the night, and had actually put his army in motion for that purpose; but he was anticipated by the vigilance and good fortune of the Prussian monarch. That prince reflecting, that if he should wait for his adversaries in his camp, he ran the risk of being attacked at the same time by Lascy on his right, by Daun in his front, and by Laudohn on his left, he altered his disposition, in order to disconcert their operations; and, on the fourteenth day of the month, marched to the heights of Psaffendorff, where he formed his army in order of battle. Receiving intimation about two in the morning, that Laudohn was in full march advancing in columns by Benowitz, he divided his army into two separate bodies. One of these remained on the ground, in order to maintain the post against any attempts that might be made by count Daun to succour Laudohn; and that this service might be the more effectually performed, the heights were fortified with batteries, so judiciously disposed, as to impede and overawe the whole Austrian army. The king having taken this precaution, wheeled about with sixteen battalions and thirty squadrons, to fall upon Laudohn as he should advance; but that general knew nothing of his design, until he himself arrived at the village of Psaffendorff, about three in the morning, when the day dawning, and a thick fog gradually dispersing, the whole detachment of the Prussian army appeared in order of battle, in a well-chosen situation, strengthened with a numerous train of artillery, placed to the best advantage. Laudohn was not a little mortified to find himself caught in his own snare, but he had advanced too far to recede; and therefore, making a virtue of necessity, resolved to stand an engagement. With this view he formed his troops, as well as the time, place, and circumstances would permit; and the Prussians advancing to the attack, a severe action ensued. The king rode along the line to animate the troops, and superintended every part of the charge; hazarding his life in the most dangerous scenes of the battle to such a degree, that his horse was killed under him, and his clothes were shot through in several places. The Austrians maintained the conflict with great obstinacy, until six in the morning, when they gave ground, and were pursued to the Katzbach; beyond which the king would not allow his troops to prosecute the advantage they had gained, that they might be able to succour the right in case mareschal count Daun should succeed in his attempt to advance against them from Lignitz. That general had actually begun his march to fall upon the Prussians on one side, while Laudohn should attack them on the other; but he was not a little surprised to find they were decamped; and when he perceived a thick cloud of smoke at a distance, he immediately comprehended the nature of the king’s management. He then attempted to advance by Lignitz; but the troops and artillery, which had been left on the height of Psaffendorff, to dispute his march, were so advantageously disposed, as to render all his efforts abortive. Laudohn is said to have lost in the action above eight thousand men, killed, wounded, and taken, including eighty officers, with twenty-three pair of colours, and eighty-two pieces of cannon; over and above this loss, the Austrian general suffered greatly by desertion. The Prussians obtained the victory at the expense of one general, with five hundred men killed, and twelve hundred wounded. Immediately after the action the victor inarched to Parchwitz; while Daun detached prince Lowenstein and general Beck with the reserve of his army, to join prince Czernichew, who had crossed the Oder at Auras; but he was so intimidated by the defeat at Lignitz, that he forthwith repassed that river, and prince Lowenstein retired on the side of Jauer. By this bold and well-conducted adventure, the Prussian monarch not only escaped the most imminent hazard of a total defeat from the joint efforts of two strong armies, but also prevented the dreaded junction of the Eussian and Austrian forces. His business was now to open the communication with Breslau and his brother prince Henry, whom he joined at Neumarcke. The prince, after Laudohn was obliged to relinquish the siege of Breslau, had kept a watchful eye over the motions of the Eussian army, which had advanced into the neighbourhood of that city; and, without all doubt, would have bombarded it from some commanding heights, had they not been prevented by prince Henry, who took possession of these posts, and fortified them with redoubts. The king having freed Breslau from the neighbourhood of his enemies, and being strengthened by the junction with his brother, left a considerable detachment under the command of general Boltze, to protect the country against the Eussian irregulars; and advanced with his whole force to the relief of Schweidnitz, which was blocked up by the Austrian forces under the command of the mareschal count Daun. In his march he fell upon a separate body under general Beck, made two battalions of Croats prisoners, and dispersed several squadrons. This achievement had such an effect upon the enemy, that they raised the blockade, and retreated with some precipitation to the mountains of Landshut.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
## ACTION BETWEEN GENEEAL HULSEN AND THE IMPERIAL ARMY IN SAXONY.
While the king thus exerted himself, with a spirit altogether unexampled, in defending Silesia, general Hulsen, who commanded his troops in Saxony, was exposed to the most imminent danger. Understanding that the army of the empire had formed a design to cut off his communication with Torgau, he quitted his camp at Meissen, and marched to Strehla. The enemy having divided their forces into two bodies, one of them, on the twentieth clay of August, attacked an advanced post of the Prussians; while the other was disposed in such a manner, as to overawe Hulsen’s camp, and prevent him from taking any step for the relief of his battalions, who maintained their ground with difficulty against a superior number of assailants. In this emergency the Prussian general ordered his cavalry to make a circuit round a rising ground, and, if possible, charge the enemy in flank. This order was executed with equal vigour and success. They fell upon the imperial army with such impetuosity, as drove their battalions and horse upon each other in the utmost confusion. A considerable number of the enemy were slain, and forty-one officers, with twelve hundred men, made prisoners. By this advantage, which was obtained at a very small expense, general Hulsen opened for himself a way to Torgau, whither he instantly retreated, perceiving that the whole army of the imperialists was advancing to cut off his communication with the Elbe. This retreat furnished the enemy with a pretext for claiming the victory.
SITUATION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
After all these heroic endeavours of the Prussian monarch and his officers, his affairs remained in such a desperate situation as seemed to presage approaching ruin; for, though in person he commanded a numerous and well-appointed army, he found it absolutely impossible to guard against the different detachments from the three separate armies of his adversaries. Bodies of Austrian troops scoured the country of Lusatia; the Russians traversed part of Silesia, and made irruptions even into Brandenburgh; the imperial army domineered in Saxony; the Swedish army, meeting with no opposition, advanced into the heart of Pomerania; so that the king was not only threatened on every side, but all correspondence between him and his hereditary dominions was at this juncture intercepted.
THE RUSSIANS AND AUSTRIANS POSSESS THEMSELVES OF BERLIN.
His adversaries, having been hitherto baffled by his activity and resolution in their designs upon Silesia, now meditated a scheme, the execution of which he could not but feel in the most sensible manner. The Russian army being on its retreat from Silesia, count Czernichew was sent with a strong detachment into the marche of Brandenburgh; while a numerous body of Austrians, under Lascy and Brentano, penetrated into the same country from Saxony, with instructions to join the Russians at the gates of Berlin. The Prussian general Hulsen, finding himself too weak to cope with the army of the empire in Misnia, had fallen back to this capital, where he was joined by the troops under general Werner, lately returned from Pomerania; but as their forces, after this junction, did not exceed sixteen thousand men, and the allies advancing against them amounted to forty thousand, they would not pretend to oppose the enemy in the open field, nor to defend a city of such extent, and so imperfectly fortified. Such an attempt would have only exposed their troops to ruin, without being able to save the capital, which, on the contrary, would have been the more severely handled, in consequence of their opposition. They therefore resolved to retire, after having repulsed the advanced guard of the Russians under Tottleben, which attacked the gates, and even bombarded the town, before the great armies appeared. At their approach the Prussian generals retreated, leaving three weak battalions in the place, in hopes they might be the means of obtaining some sort of terms for the city. They made no resistance, however; but on the first summons proposed articles of capitulation, which being refused, they surrendered themselves prisoners of war. In favour of the city, the foreign ministers there residing interposed their mediation with such zeal and success, that tolerable conditions were obtained. The inhabitants were indulged with the free exercise of their religion, and an immunity from violence to their persons and effects. The enemy promised that the Russian irregulars should not enter the town; and that the king’s palace should not be violated. These articles being ratified, the Austrian and Russian troops entered the place, where they totally destroyed the magazines, arsenals, and foundries, with an immense quantity of military stores, and a great number of cannon and small arms: then they demanded the immediate payment of eight hundred thousand guilders; and afterwards exacted a contribution of one million nine hundred thousand German crowns. Many outrages were committed by the licentious soldiery, in spite of all the precautions which the officers could take to preserve the most exact discipline. The houses of the private inhabitants were tolerably protected, but the king’s palaces were subjected to the most rigorous treatment. In the royal palace of Charlottenburg they pillaged and spoiled the rich furniture: they defaced and mutilated the valuable pictures and antique statues collected by cardinal de Polignac, and purchased by the house of Brandenburgh. The castle of Schonhausen, belonging to the queen, and that of Fredericksfeldt, the property of the margrave Charles, were pillaged of effects to a very considerable value. The palace of Potsdam was effectually protected by prince Esterhasi, who would not suffer one article of furniture to be touched; but desired leave to take one picture of the king, and two of his German flutes, that he might preserve them as memorials of an illustrious prince, whose heroic character he admired. The Austrian and Russian troops entered Berlin on the ninth day of October, and quitted it on the thirteenth, on hearing that the king was in full march to the relief of his capital. In their retreat, by different routes, from Brandenburgh, they drove away all the cattle and horses they could find, ravaged the country, and committed brutal outrages on the inhabitants, which the pretence of retaliation could never excuse. The body of Russians which entered Berlin marched from thence into Poland, by the way of Furstenwalde; while the Austrians took the route of Saxony, from whence they had advanced into Brandenburgh. Meanwhile the town of Wirtem-berg, in that electorate, was reduced by the duke de Deux-Ponts, commander of the imperial army, which, in conjunction with the Austrians, made themselves masters also of Torgau and Leipsic.
KING OF PRUSSIA DEFEATS THE AUSTRIANS AT TORGAU.
The king of Prussia, in his march through Lusatia, was still attended by count Daun, at the head of his grand army, and both passed the Elbe about the latter end of October. The Prussian crossed the river at Coswick, where he was joined by the troops under prince Eugene of Wirtemberg and general Ilulsen, so that his army now amounted to eighty thousand fighting men, with whom he resolved to strike some stroke of importance. Indeed, at this time his situation was truly critical. General Laudohn, with a considerable body of Austrians, remained in Silesia; the Russian army still threatened Breslau, the capital of that country. The Imperialists and Austrians had taken possession of all the great towns in Saxony, and were masters on both sides of the Elbe. In the eastern part of Pomerania, the Russians had invested Colberg by sea and land, seemingly determined to reduce the place, that they might have a seaport by which they could be supplied with provisions, ammunition, necessaries, and reinforcements, without the trouble and inconvenience of a long and laborious march from the banks of the Vistula. On the western side of Pomerania, the war, which had hitherto languished, was renewed by the Swedes with uncommon vivacity. They passed the river Pene without opposition; and obliging general Stutterheim to retreat, advanced as far as Stransberg. That officer, however, being reinforced, attacked a Swedish post at Passelvalik, slew about five hundred of the enemy, and took an equal number, with six pieces of cannon; but he was not numerous enough to keep the field against their whole army. Thus the Prussian monarch saw himself obliged to abandon Silesia, deprived of all the places he held in Saxony, which had been his best resource; and in danger of being driven into his hereditary country of Brandenburgh, which was unable either to maintain, or even to recruit, his army. On this emergency he resolved to make one desperate effort against the grand Austrian army under count Daun, who had passed the Elbe at Torgau, and advanced to Eulenbourg, from whence, however, he retreated to his former camp at Torgau; and the king chose his situation between this last place and Schilda, at Lang-Reichenbach, where the hussars attacked a body of horse under general Brentano, and made four hundred prisoners. The right wing of the Austrians being at Groswich, and their left at Torgau, the Prussian king determined to attack them next day, which was the third of November. His design was to march through the wood of Torgau by three different routes, with thirty battalions and fifty squadrons of his left wing: the first line was ordered to advance by the way of Mackrene to Neiden; the second by Peckhutte to Elsnick; and the third, consisting of cavalry, to penetrate by the wood of Wildenhayn to Vogelsand. On the other hand, general Ziethen was directed to take the great Leipsic road, with thirty battalions and seventy squadrons of the right; and quitting it at the ponds of Torgau, to attack the village of Suptitz and Groswich. The king’s line, in its march, fell in with a corps of Austrians under general Reid, who retired into the wood of Torgau; and another more considerable body, posted in the wood of Wildenhayn, likewise retreated to Groswich, after having fired some pieces of artillery; but the dragoons of Saint Ignon, being enclosed between two columns of Prussian infantry, were either killed or taken. By two in the afternoon the king had penetrated through the wood to the plain of Neiden, from whence another body of the enemy retired to Torgau, where a continued noise of cannon and small arms declared that general Ziethen was already engaged. The Prussians immediately advanced at a quicker pace, and passing the morasses near Neiden, inclined to the right in three lines, and soon came to action. Daun had chosen a very advantageous position: his right extended to Groswich, and his left to Zinne: while his infantry occupied some eminences along the road of Leipsic, and his front was strength-ened with no less than two hundred pieces of cannon. His second line was disposed on an extent of ground, which terminated in hillocks towards the Elbe; and against this the king directed his attack. He had already given his troops to understand that his affairs were in such a situation, that they must either conquer or perish: and they began the battle with the most desperate impetuosity; but they met with such a warm reception from the artillery, small arms, and in particular from the Austrian carabineers, that their grenadiers were shattered and repulsed. The second charge, though enforced with incredible vigour, was equally unsuccessful: then the king ordered his cavalry to advance, and they fell upon some regiments of infantry with such fury as obliged them to give way. These, however, were compelled to retire, in their turn, before about seventy battalions of the enemy, who advanced towards Torgau, stretching with their right to the Elbe, and their left to Zinne. While the prince of Holstein rallied his cavalry, and returned to the charge, the third line of Prussian infantry attacked the vineyard of Suptitz, and general Ziethen with the right wing took the enemy in rear. This disposition threw the Austrians into disorder; which was greatly augmented by the disaster of count Daun, who was dangerously wounded in the thigh, and carried off the field of battle. But the Prussians could not pursue their victory, because the action had lasted until nine; and the night being unusually dark, facilitated the retreat of the enemy, who crossed the Elbe on three bridges of boats thrown over the river at Torgau. The victor possessed the field of battle, with seven thousand prisoners, including two hundred officers, twenty-nine pair of colours, one standard, and about forty pieces of cannon. The carnage was very great on both sides; about three thousand Prussians were killed, and five thousand wounded; and, in the first attacks, two general officers, with fifteen hundred soldiers, were made prisoners by the enemy. The king, as usual, exposed his person in every part of the battle, and a musket-ball grazed upon his breast. In the morning, the king of Prussia entered Torgau; then he secured Meissen, and took possession of Fribourg: so that, in consequence of this well-timed victory, his position was nearly the same as at the opening of the campaign.
The Austrians, however, notwithstanding this check, maintained their ground in the neighbourhood of Dresden; while the Prussians were distributed in quarters of cantonment in and about Leipsic and Meissen. As the Austrian general had, after the battle, recalled his detachments, general Laudohn abandoned Landshut, wrhich again fell into the hands of the Prussians, and the Imperial army was obliged to retire into Franconia. The Swedes having penetrated a great way into Pom-crania, returned again to their winter-quarters at Stralsund; and the Russian generals measured back their way to the Vistula: so that the confederates gained little else in the course of this campaign but the contributions which they raised in Berlin, and the open country of Brandenburgh. Had the allies been heartily bent upon crushing the Prussian monarch, one would imagine the Russians and Swedes might have joined their forces in Pomerania, and made good their winter-quarters in Brandenburgh, where they could have been supplied with magazines from the Baltic, and been at hand to commence their operations in the spring; but, in all probability, such an establishment in the empire would have given umbrage to the Germanic body.
DIETS of POLAND AND SWEDEN ASSEMBLED.
The diet of Poland being assembled in the beginning of October, the king entertained the most sanguine hope they would take some resolution in his favour, but the partisans of Prussia frustrated all his endeavours: one of the deputies protesting against holding a diet while there were foreign troops in the kingdom, the assembly broke up in a tumultuous manner, even before they had chosen a mareschal. The diet of Sweden, which was convoked about the same period, seemed determined to proceed upon business. They elected count Axel Person their grand mareschal, in opposition to count Horn, by a great majority; which was an unlucky circumstance for the Prussian interest at Stockholm, inasmuch as the same majority obstinately persisted in opinion, that the war should be prosecuted in the spring with redoubled vigour, and the army in Germany reinforced to the number of at least thirty thousand fighting men. This unfavourable circumstance made but little impression upon the Prussian monarch, who had maintained his ground with surprising resolution and success since the beginning of the campaign; and now enjoyed in prospect the benefit of winter, which he is said to have termed his best auxiliary.
INTIMATION GIVEN TO THE STATES OF WESTPHALIA BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
The animosity which inflamed the contending parties was not confined to the operations in war, but broke out, as usual, in printed declarations, which the belligerent powers diffused all over Europe. In the beginning of the season, the states of the circle of Westphalia had been required, by the Imperial court, to finish their contingent of troops against the king of Prussia, or to commute for this contingent with a sum of money. In consequence of this demand, some of the Westphalian estates had sent deputies to confer with the assembly of the circle of Cologn; and to these the king signified, by a declaration dated at Munster, that as this demand of money, instead of troops, was no less extraordinary than contrary to the constitutions of the empire, should they comply with it, or even continue to assist his enemies either with troops or money, he would consider them as having actually taken part in the war against him and his allies, and treat them accordingly on all occasions. This intimation produced little effect in his favour. The duke of Mecklenburgh adhered to the opposite cause; and the elector of Cologn co-operated with the French in their designs against Hanover. By way of retaliation for this partiality, the Prussians ravaged the country of Mecklenburgh, and the Hanoverians levied contributions in the territories of Cologn. The parties thus aggrieved had recourse to complaints and remonstrances. The duke’s envoy at Ratisbon communicated a rescript to the Imperial ministers, representing that the Prussian troops under general Werner and colonel de Belling had distressed his country in the autumn by grievous extortions; that afterwards prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, in the service of Prussia, had demanded an exorbitant quantity of provisions, with some millions of money, and a great number of recruits; or, in lieu of these, that the duke’s forces should act under the Prussian banner. He therefore declared that, as the country of Mecklenburgh was impoverished, and almost depopulated, by these oppressions, the duke would find himself obliged to take measures for the future security of his subjects, if not immediately favoured with such assistance from the court of Vienna as would put a stop to these violent proceedings. This declaration was by some considered as the prelude of his renouncing his engagements with the house of Austria. As the Imperial court had threatened to put the elector of Hanover under the ban of the empire, in consequence of the hostilities which his troops had committed in the electorate of Cologn, his resident at Ratisbon delivered to the ministers who assisted at the diet a memorial, remonstrating that the emperor hath no power, singly, to subject any prince to the ban, or declare him a rebel; and that, by arrogating such a power, he exposed his authority to the same contempt into which the pope’s bulls of excommunication were so justly fallen. With respect to the elector of Cologn, he observed that this prince was the first who commenced hostilities, by allowing his troops to co-operate with the French in their invasion of Hanover, and by celebrating with rejoicings the advantages which they had gained in that electorate; he therefore gave the estates of the empire to understand, that the best way of screening their subjects from hostile treatment would be a strict observance of neutrality in the present disputes of the empire.
THE KING OF POLAND’S REMONSTRANCE.
This was a strain much more effectual among princes and powers who are generally actuated by interested motives, than was the repetition of complaints, equally pathetic and unavailing, uttered by the unfortunate king of Poland, elector of Saxony. The damage done to his capital by the last attempt of the Prussian monarch on that city, affected the old king in such a manner, that he published at Vienna an appeal to all the powers of Europe, from the cruelty and unprecedented outrages which distinguished the conduct of his adversaries in Saxony. All Europe pitied the hard fate of this exiled prince, and sympathized with the disasters of his country: but in the breasts of his enemies, reasons of state and convenience overruled the suggestions of humanity; and his friends had hitherto exerted themselves in vain for the deliverance of his people.
REDUCTION OF PONDICHERRY.
From this detail of continental affairs, our attention is recalled to Great Britain, by an incident of a very interesting nature; an account of which, however, we shall postpone until we have recorded the success that, in the course of this year, attended the British arms in the East Indies. We have already observed that colonel Coote, after having defeated the French general Lally in the field, and reduced divers of the enemy’s settlements on the coast of Coromandel, at length cooped them up within the walls of Pondicherry, the principal seat of the French East India company, large, populous, well-fortified, and secured with a numerous garrison, under the immediate command of their general. In the month of October, admiral Stevens sailed from Trincomalê with all his squadron, in order to its being refitted, except five sail of the line, which he left under the command of captain Ilaldane, to block up Pondicherry by sea, while Mr. Coote carried on his operations by land. By this disposition, and the vigilance of the British officers, the place was so hampered as to be greatly distressed for want of provisions, even before the siege could be undertaken in form; for the rainy season rendered all regular approaches impracticable. These rains being abated by the twenty-sixth day of November, colonel Coote directed the engineers to pitch upon proper places for erecting batteries that should enfilade or flank the works of the garrison, without exposing their own men to any severe fire from the enemy. Accordingly, four batteries were constructed in different places, so as to answer these purposes, and opened altogether on the eighth day of December at midnight. Though raised at a considerable distance, they were plied with good effect, and the besieged returned the fire with great vivacity. This mutual cannonading continued until the twenty-ninth day of the month, when the engineers were employed in raising another battery, near enough to effect a breach in the north-west counter-guard and curtain. Though the approaches were retarded some days by a violent storm, which almost ruined the works, the damage was soon repaired: a considerable post was taken from the enemy by assault, and afterwards regained by the French grenadiers, through the timidity of the sepoys, by whom it was occupied. By the fifteenth clay of January, a second battery being raised within point-blank, a breach was made in the curtain: the west face and flank of the north-west bastion were ruined, and the guns of the enemy entirely silenced. The garrison and inhabitants of Pondicherry were now reduced to an extremity of famine which would admit of no hesitation. General Lally sent a colonel, attended by the chief of the Jesuits, and two civilians, to Mr. Coote, with proposals of surrendering the garrison prisoners of war, and demanding a capitulation in behalf of the French East India company. On this last subject he made no reply; but next morning took possession of the town and citadel, where he found a great quantity of artillery, ammunition, small arms, and military stores; then he secured the garrison, amounting to above two thousand Europeans. Lally made a gallant defence; and had he been properly supplied with provisions, the conquest of the place would not have been so easily achieved. He certainly flattered himself with the hope of being supplied; otherwise an officer of his experience would have demanded a capitulation, before he was reduced to the necessity of acquiescing in any terms the besieger might have thought proper to impose. That he spared no pains to procure supplies, appears from an intercepted letter,* written by this commander to monsieur Raymond, French resident at Pullicat...... The billet is no bad sketch of the writer’s character, which seems to have a strong tincture of oddity and extravagance.
* “Monsieur Raymond--The English squadron is no more, sir-- of the twelve ships they had in our road seven are lost, crews and all; the other four dismasted; and no more than one frigate hath escaped--therefore lose not an instant in sending chelingoes upon chelingoes, laden with rice. The Dutch have nothing to fear now. Besides, according to the law of nations, they are only restricted from sending us provisions in their own bottoms; and we are no longer blockaded by sea. The salvation of Pondicherry hath been once in your power already: if you neglect this opportunity it will be entirely your own fault--don’t forget some small chelingoes also--offer great rewards--in four days I expect seventeen thousand Mahrattas. In short, risk all--attempt all--force all, and send us some rice, should it be but half a garse at a time.”
PART OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON WRECKED IN A STORM.
By the reduction of Pondicherry, the French interest was annihilated on the coast of Coromandel, and therefore of the utmost importance to the British nation. It may be doubted, however, whether colonel Coote, with all his spirit, vigilance, and military talents, could have succeeded in this enterprise without the assistance of the squadrons, which co-operated with him by sea, and effectually excluded all succour from the besieged. It must be owned, for the honour of the service, that no incident interrupted the good understanding which was maintained between the land and sea officers, who vied with each other in contributing their utmost efforts towards the success of the expedition. On the twenty-fifth day of December, rear-admiral Stevens arrived with four ships of the line, having parted with rear-admiral Cornish and his division in stormy weather: but he joined them at Pondicherry before the place was surrendered. On the first day of January a violent tempest obliged admiral Stevens to slip his cables and to put to sea, where he parted with the rest of the squadron; and when in three days he returned to the road of Pondicherry, he had the mortification to find that his division had suffered severely from the storm. The ships of war called the duke of Aquitaine and the Sunderland foundered in the storm, and their crews perished. The Newcastle, the Queenborough, and the Protector fireship, were driven ashore and destroyed; but the men were saved, together with the cannon, stores, and provisions. Many other ships sustained considerable damage, which however was soon repaired. Admiral Stevens having intercepted the letter from Lally to Raymond, (See-note *), immediately despatched letters to the Dutch and Danish settlements on this coast, intimating that, notwithstanding the insinuations of general Lally, he had eleven sail of the line, with two frigates, under his command, all fit for service, in the road of Pondicherry, which was closely invested and blockaded both by sea and land: he therefore declared, that, as in that case it was contrary to the law of nations for any neutral power to relieve or succour the besieged, he was determined to seize any vessel that should attempt to throw provisions into the place.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
DEATH and CHARACTER of KING GEORGE II.
While the arms of Great Britain still prospered in every effort tending to the real interest of the nation, an event happened which for a moment obscured the splendour of her triumphs, and could not but be very alarming to those German allies, whom her liberality had enabled to maintain an expensive and sanguinary war of humour and ambition. On the twenty-fifth day of October, George II. king of Great Britain, without any previous disorder, was in the morning suddenly seized with the agony of death, at the palace at Kensington. He had risen at the usual hour, drank his chocolate, and inquired, about the wind, as anxious for the arrival of the foreign mails; then he opened a window of his apartment, and perceiving the weather was serene, declared he would walk in the garden. In a few minutes after this declaration, while he remained alone in his chamber, he fell down upon the floor; the noise of his fall brought his attendants into the room, who lifted him on the bed, where he desired, in a faint voice, that the princess Amelia might be called; but before she could reach the apartments he had expired. An attempt was made to bleed him, but without effect: and indeed his malady was far beyond the reach of art; for when the cavity of the thorax or chest was opened, and inspected by the sergeant-surgeons, they found the right ventricle of the heart actually ruptured, and a great quantity of blood discharged through the aperture into the surrounding pericardium; so that he must have died instantaneously, in consequence of the effusion. The case, however, was so extraordinary, that we question whether there is such another instance upon record. A rupture of this nature appears the more remarkable, as it happened to a prince of a healthy constitution, unaccustomed to excess, and far advanced beyond that period of life, when the blood might be supposed to flow with a dangerous impetuosity.
Thus died George II. at the age of seventy-seven, after a long reign of thirty-four years, distinguished by a variety of important events, and chequered with a vicissittide of character and fortune. He was in his person rather lower than the middle size, well shaped, erect, with eyes remarkably prominent, a high nose, and fair complexion. In his disposition he is said to have been hasty, prone to anger, especially in his youth, yet soon appeased; otherwise mild, moderate, and humane; in his way of living temperate, regular, and so methodical in every branch of private economy, that his attention descended to objects which a great king, perhaps, had better overlook. He was fond of military pomp and parade; and personally brave. He loved war as a soldier--he studied it as a science; and corresponded on this subject with some of the greatest officers whom Germany has produced. The extent of his understanding, and the splendour of his virtue, we shall not presume to ascertain, or attempt to display; we rather wish for opportunities to expatiate on his munificence and liberality--his generous regard to genius and learning--his royal encouragement and protection of those arts by which a nation is at once benefited and adorned. With respect to his government, it very seldom deviated from the institutions of law, or encroached upon private property, or interfered with the common administration of justice. The circumstances that chiefly marked his public character, were a predilection for his native country, and a close attention to the political interests of the Germanic body; points and principles to which he adhered with the most invincible fortitude: and if ever the blood and treasure of Great Britain were sacrificed to these considerations, we ought not so much to blame the prince, who acted from the dictates of natural affection, as we should detest a succession of venal ministers, all of whom in their turns devoted themselves, soul and body, to the gratification of his passion, or
## partiality, so prejudicial to the true interest of their country.
{GEORGE II., 1727-1760}
RECAPITULATION OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS REIGN.
The reign of George II. produced many revolutions, as well in the internal schemes of economy and administration, as in the external projects of political connexions; revolutions that exposed the frailties of human nature, and demonstrated the instability of systems founded upon convenience. In the course of this reign, a standing army was, by dint of ministerial influence, engrafted on the constitution of Great Britain. A fatal stroke was given to the liberty of the press, by the act subjecting all dramatic writings to the inspection of a licenser. The great machine of corruption, contrived to secure a constant majority in parliament, was overturned, and the inventor of it obliged to quit the reins of government. Professed patriots resigned the principles they had long endeavoured to establish, and listed themselves for the defence of that fortress against which their zeal and talents had been levelled. The management of a mighty kingdom was consigned into the hands of a motley administration--ministers without knowledge, and men without integrity, whose councils were timid, weak, and wavering; whose folly and extravagance exposed the nation to ridicule and contempt; by whose ignorance and presumption it was reduced to the verge of ruin. The kingdom was engaged in a quarrel truly national, and commenced a necessary war on national principles: but that war was starved; and the chief strength of the nation transferred to the continent of Europe, in order to maintain an unnecessary war, in favour of a family whose pride and ambition can be equalled by nothing but its insolence and ingratitude. While the strength of the nation was thus exerted abroad for the support of worthless allies, and a dangerous rebellion raged in the bowels of the kingdom, the sovereign was insulted by his ministers, who deserted his service at this critical juncture, and refused to resume their functions, until he had truckled to their petulant humour, and dismissed a favourite servant, of whose superior talents they were meanly jealous. Such an unprecedented secession at any time would have merited the imputation of insolence; but at that period, when the sovereign was perplexed and embarrassed by a variety of dangers and difficulties; when his crown, and even his life, were at stake; to throw up their places, abandon his councils, and, as far as in them lay, detach themselves from his fortune, was a step so likely to aggravate the disorder of the nation, so big with cruelty, ingratitude, and sedition, that it seems to deserve an appellation which, however, we do not think proper to bestow. An inglorious war was succeeded by an ignominious peace, which proved of short duration; yet in this interval the English nation exhibited such a proof of commercial opulence as astonished all Europe. At the close of a war which had drained it of so much treasure, and increased the public debt to an enormous burden, it acquiesced under such a reduction of interest as one would hardly think the ministry durst have proposed, even before one-half of the national debt was contracted. A much more unpopular step was a law that passed for natural-izing the Jews--a law so odious to the people in general, that it was soon repealed, at the request of that minister by whom it had been chiefly patronized. An ill-concerted peace was in a little time productive of fresh hostilities, and another war with France, which Britain began to prosecute under favourable auspices. Then the whole political system of Germany was inverted. The king of England abandoned the interest of that house which he had in the former war so warmly espoused, and took into his bosom a prince whom he had formerly considered as his inveterate enemy. The unpropitious beginning of this war against France being imputed to the misconduct of the administration, excited such a ferment among the people, as seemed to threaten a dangerous insurrection. Every part of the kingdom resounded with the voice of dissatisfaction, which did not even respect the throne. The king found himself obliged to accept of a minister presented by the people; and this measure was attended with consequences as favourable as his wish could form. From that instant all clamour was hushed--all opposition ceased. The enterprising spirit of the new minister seemed to diffuse itself through all the operations of the war, and conquest everywhere attended the efforts of the British arms. Now appeared the fallacy of those maxims, and the falsehood of those assertions, by which former ministers had established, and endeavoured to excuse, the practices of corruption. The supposed disaffection, which had been insisted on as the source of parliamentary opposition, now entirely vanished; nor was it found necessary to use any sinister means for securing a majority, in order to answer the purposes of the administration. England for the first time saw a minister of state in full possession of popularity. Under the auspices of this minister, it saw a national militia formed, and trained to discipline by the invincible spirit of a few patriots, who pursued this salutary measure in the face of unwearied opposition, discouraged by the jealousy of a court, and ridiculed by all the venal retainers to a standing army. Under his ministry it saw the military genius of Great Britain revive, and shine with redoubled lustre; it saw her interest and glory coincide, and an immense extent of country added by conquest to her dominions. The people, confiding in the integrity and abilities of their own minister, and elevated by the repeated sounds of triumph, became enamoured of the war, and granted such liberal subsidies for its support, as no other minister would have presumed to ask, as no other nation believed they could afford. Nor did they murmur at seeing great part of their treasure diverted into foreign channels; nor did they seem to bestow a serious thought on the accumulating load of the national debt, which already exceeded the immense sum of one hundred millions.
In a word, they were intoxicated with victory; and as the king happened to die in the midst of their transports, occasioned by the final conquest of Canada, their good humour garnished his character with a prodigality of encomiums. A thousand pens were drawn to paint the beauties and sublimity of his character, in poetry as well as prose. They extolled him above Alexander in courage and heroism, above Augustus in liberality, Titus in clemency, Antoninus in piety and benevolence, Solomon in wisdom, and Saint Edward in devotion. Such hyperbolical eulogiums served only to throw a ridicule upon a character which was otherwise respectable. The two universities vied with each other in lamenting his death; and each published a huge collection of elegies on the subject: nor did they fail to exalt his praise, with the warmest expressions of affection and regret, in the compliments of condolence and congratulation which they presented to his successor. The same panegyric and pathos appeared in all the addresses with which every other community in the kingdom approached the throne of our present sovereign: insomuch that we may venture to say, no prince was ever more popular at the time of his decease. The English are naturally warm and impetuous; and in generous natures, affection is as apt as any other passion to run riot. The sudden death of the king was lamented as a national misfortune by many, who felt a truly filial affection for their country; not that they implicitly subscribed to all the exaggerated praise which had been so liberally poured forth on his character, but because the nation was deprived of him at a critical juncture, while involved in a dangerous and expensive war, of which he had been personally the chief mover and support. They knew the burden of royalty devolved upon a young prince, who, though heir-apparent to the crown, and already arrived at years of maturity, had never been admitted to any share of the administration, nor made acquainted with any schemes or secrets of state. The real character of the new king was very little known to the generality of the nation. They dreaded an abrupt change of measures, which might have rendered useless all the advantages obtained in the course of the war. As they were ignorant of his connexions, they dreaded a revolution in the ministry, which might fill the kingdom with clamour and confusion. But the greatest shock occasioned by his decease was undoubtedly among our allies and fellow-subjects in Germany, who saw themselves suddenly deprived of their sole prop and patron, at a time when they could not pretend of themselves to make head against the numerous enemies by whom they were surrounded. But all these doubts and apprehensions vanished like mists before the rising sun; and the people of Great Britain enjoyed the inexpressible pleasure of seeing their loss repaired in such a manner, as must have amply fulfilled the most sanguine wish of every friend to his country.
ACCOUNT OF THE COMMERCE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
The commerce of Great Britain continued to increase during the whole course of this reign; but this increase was not the effect of extraordinary encouragement. On the contrary, the necessities of government, the growing expenses of the nation, and the continual augmentation of the public debt, obliged the legislature to hamper trade with manifold and grievous impositions; its increase, therefore, must have been owing to the natural progress of industry and adventure extending themselves to that farthest line or limit beyond which they will not be able to advance: when the tide of traffic has flowed to its highest mark, it will then begin to recede in a gradual ebb, until it is shrunk within the narrow limits of its original channel. War, which naturally impedes the traffic of other nations, had opened new sources to the merchants of Great Britain. The superiority of her naval power had crushed the navigation of France, her great rival in commerce; so that she now supplied, on her own terms, all those foreign markets, at which, in time of peace, she was undersold by that dangerous competitor. Thus her trade was augmented to a surprising pitch; and this great augmentation alone enabled her to maintain the war at such an enormous expense. As this advantage will cease when the French are at liberty to re-establish their commerce, and prosecute it without molestation, it would be for the interest of Great Britain to be at continual variance with that restless neighbour, provided the contest could be limited to the operations of a sea-war, in which England would be always invincible and victorious.
STATE OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.
The powers of the human mind were freely and fully exercised in this reign. Considerable progress was made in mathematics and astronomy by divers individuals; among whom we number Sanderson, Bradley, Maclaurin, Smith, and the two Simpsons. Natural philosophy became a general study; and the new doctrine of electricity grew into fashion. Different methods were discovered for rendering sea-water potable and sweet; and divers useful hints were communicated to the public by the learned doctor Stephen Hales, who directed all his researches and experiments to the benefit of society. The study of alchemy no longer prevailed; but the art of chemistry was perfectly understood, and assiduously applied to the purposes of sophistication. The clergy of Great Britain were generally learned, pious, and exemplary. Sherlock, Hoad-ley, Seeker, and Conybeare, were promoted to the first dignities of the church. Warburton, who had long signalized himself by the strength and boldness of his genius, his extensive capacity and profound erudition, at length obtained the mitre. But these promotions were granted to reasons ef state convenience and personal interest, rather than as rewards of extraordinary merit. Many other ecclesiastics of worth and learning were totally overlooked. Nor was ecclesiastical merit confined to the established church. Many instances of extraordinary genius, unaffected piety, and universal moderation, appeared among the dissenting ministers of Great Britain and Ireland; among these we particularize the elegant, the primitive Foster; the learned, ingenious, and penetrating Leland.
FANATICISM.
The progress of reason, and free cultivation of the human mind, had not, however, entirely banished those ridiculous sects and schisms of which the kingdom had been formerly so productive. Imposture and fanaticism still hung upon the skirts of religion. Weak minds were seduced by the delusion of a superstition styled Methodism, raised upon the affectation of superior sanctity, and maintained by pretensions to divine illumination. Many thousands in the lower ranks of life were infected with this species of enthusiasm, by the unwearied endeavours of a few obscure preachers, such as Whitfield and the two Wesleys, who propagated their doctrine to the most remote corners of the British dominions, and found means to lay the whole kingdom under contribution. Fanaticism also formed a league with false philosophy. One Hutchinson, a visionary, intoxicated with the fumes of rabbinical learning, pretended to deduce all demonstration from Hebrew roots, and to confine all human knowledge to the five books of Moses. His disciples became numerous after his death. With the methodists, they denied the merit of good-works, and bitterly inveighed against Newton as an ignorant pretender, who had presumed to set up his own ridiculous chimeras in opposition to the sacred philosophy of the Pentateuch. But the most extraordinary sect which distinguished this reign was that of the Moravians, or Hernhutters, imported from Germany by count Zinzendorf, who might have been termed the Melchisedec of his followers, inasmuch as he assumed among them the threefold character of prophet, priest, and king. They could not be so properly styled a sect, as the disciples of an original, who had invented a new system of religion. Their chief adoration was paid to the second person in the Trinity; the first they treated with the most shocking neglect. Some of their tenets were blasphemous, some indecent, and others ridiculously absurd. Their discipline was a strange mixture of devotion and impurity. Their exterior worship consisted of hymns, prayers, and sermons; the hymns extremely ludicrous, and often indecent, alluding to the side-hole or wound which Christ received from a spear in his side while he remained upon the cross. Their sermons frequently contained very gross incentives to the work of propagation. Their private exercises are said to have abounded with such rites and mysteries, as we cannot explain with any regard to decorum. They professed a community of goods, and were governed as one family, in temporals as well as spirituals, by a council or kind of presbytery, in which the count, as their ordinary, presided. In cases of doubt, or great consequence, these pretended to consult the Saviour, and to decide from immediate inspiration; so that they boasted of being under the immediate direction of a theocracy, though in fact they were slaves to the most dangerous kind of despotism; for as often as any individual of the community pretended to think for himself, or differ in opinion from the ordinary and his band of associates, the oracle decreed that he should be instantly sent upon the mission which they had fixed in Greenland, or to the colony they had established in Pennsylvania. As these religionists consisted chiefly of manufacturers who appeared very sober, orderly, and industrious; and their chief declared his intention of prosecuting works of public emolument; they obtained a settlement under a parliamentary sanction in England, where they soon made a considerable number of proselytes, before their principles were fully discovered and explained.
METAPHYSICS AND MEDICINE.
Many ingenious treatises on metaphysics and morality appeared in the course of this reign, and a philosophical spirit of inquiry diffused itself to the farthest extremities of the united kingdom. Though few discoveries of importance were made in medicine, yet that art was well understood in all its different branches, and many of its professors distinguished themselves in other provinces of literature. Besides the medical essays of London and Edinburgh, the physician’s library was enriched with many useful modern productions; with the works of the classical Freind, the elegant Mead, the accurate Huxham, and the philosophical Pringle. The art of midwifery was elucidated by science, reduced to fixed principles, and almost wholly consigned into the hands of men practitioners. The researches of anatomy were prosecuted to some curious discoveries, by the ingenuity and dexterity of a Hunter and a Monro. The numerous hospitals in London contributed to the improvement of surgery, which was brought to perfection under the auspices of a Cheselden and a Sharpe. The advantages of agriculture, which had long flourished in England, extended themselves gradually to the most remote and barren provinces of the island.
MECHANICS.
The mechanic powers were well understood, and judiciously applied to many useful machines of necessity and convenience. The mechanical arts had attained to all that perfection which they were capable of acquiring; but the avarice and oppressions of contractors obliged the handicraftsman to exert his ingenuity, not in finishing his work well, but in affording it cheap; in purchasing bad materials, and performing his task in a hurry; in concealing flaws, substituting show for solidity, and sacrificing reputation to the thirst of lucre. Thus, many of the English manufactures, being found slight and unserviceable, grew into discredit abroad; thus the art of producing them more perfect may in time be totally lost at home. The cloths now made in England are inferior in texture and fabric to those which were manufactured in the beginning of the century; and the same judgment may be pronounced upon almost every article of hardware. The razors, knives, scissors, hatchets, swords, and other edge-utensils, prepared for exportation, are generally ill-tempered, half finished, flawed, or brittle; and the muskets, which are sold for seven or eight shillings a-piece to the exporter, so carelessly and unconscientiously prepared, that they cannot be used without imminent danger of mutilation: accordingly, one hardly meets with a negro man upon the coast of Guinea, in the neighbourhood of the British settlements, who has not been wounded or maimed in some member by the bursting of the English fire-arms. The advantages of this traffic, carried on at the expense of character and humanity, will naturally cease, whenever those Africans can be supplied more honestly by the traders of any other nation.
GENIUS.
Genius in writing spontaneously arose; and, though neglected by the great, flourished under the culture of a public which had pretensions to taste, and piqued itself on encouraging literary merit. Swift and Pope we have mentioned on another occasion. Young still survived, a venerable monument of poetical talents. Thomson, the poet of the Seasons, displayed a luxuriancy of genius in describing the beauties of nature. Akenside and Armstrong excelled in didactic poetry. Even the Epopoea did not disdain an English dress; but appeared to advantage in the Leonidas of Glover, and the Epigoniad of Wilkie. The public acknowledged a considerable share of dramatic merit in the tragedies of Young, Mallet, Home, and some other less distinguished authors. Very few regular comedies, during this period, were exhibited on the English theatre; which, however, produced many less laboured pieces, abounding with satire, wit, and humour. The Careless Husband of Gibber, and Suspicious Husband of Hoadley, are the only comedies of this age that bid fair for reaching posterity. The exhibitions of the stage were improved to the most exquisite entertainment by the talents and management of Garrick, who greatly surpassed all his predecessors of this and perhaps every other nation, in his genius for acting; in the sweetness and variety of his tones, the irresistible magic of his eye, the fire and vivacity of his action, the elegance of attitude, and the whole pathos of expression. Quin excelled in dignity and declamation, as well as exhibiting some characters of humour, equally exquisite and peculiar. Mrs. Cibber breathed the whole soul of female tenderness and passion; and Mrs. Pritchard displayed all the dignity of distress. That Great Britain was not barren of poets at this period, appears from the detached performances of Johnson, Mason, Gray, the two Whiteheads, and the two Whartons; besides a great number of other bards, who have sported in lyric poetry, and acquired the applause of their fellow-citizens. Candidates for literary fame appeared even in the higher sphere of life, embellished by the nervous style, superior sense, and extensive erudition of a Corke; by the delicate taste, the polished muse, and tender feelings of a Lyttleton. King shone unrivalled in Roman eloquence. Even the female sex distinguished themselves by their taste and ingenuity. Miss Carter rivalled the celebrated Dacier in learning and critical knowledge; Mrs. Lennox signalized herself by many successful efforts of genius, both in poetry and prose; and Miss Reid excelled the celebrated Rosalba in portrait painting, both in miniature and at large, in oil as well as in crayons. The genius of Cervantes was transfused into the novels of Fielding, who painted the characters, and ridiculed the follies of life, with equal strength, humour, and propriety. The field of history and biography was cultivated by many writers of ability: among whom we distinguish the copious Guthrie, the circumstantial Ralph, the laborious Carte, the learned and elegant Robertson, and above all, the ingenious, penetrating, and comprehensive Hume, whom we rank among the first writers of the age, both as an historian and philosopher. Nor let us forget the merit conspicuous in the works of Campbell, remarkable for candour, intelligence, and precision. Johnson, inferior to none in philosophy, philology, poetry, and classical learning, stands foremost as an essayist, justly admired for the dignity, strength, and variety of his style, as well as for the agreeable manner in which he investigates the human heart, tracing every interesting emotion, and opening all the sources of morality. The laudable aim of enlisting the passions on the side of virtue, was successfully pursued by Richardson, in his Pamella, Clarissa, and Grandison; a species of writing equally new and extraordinary, where, mingled with much superfluity, we find a sublime system of ethics, an amazing knowledge and command of human nature. Many of the Greek and Roman classics made their appearance in English translations, which were favourably received as works of merit; among these we place, after Pope’s Homer, Virgil by Pitt and Wharton, Horace by Francis, Polybius by Hampton, and Sophocles by Franklin. The war introduced a variety of military treatises, chiefly translated from the French language; and a free country, like Great Britain, will always abound with political tracts and lucubrations. Every literary production of merit, calculated for amusement or instruction, that appeared in any country or language of Christendom, was immediately imported and naturalized among the English people. Never was the pursuit after knowledge so universal, or literary merit more regarded, than at this juncture, by the body of the British nation; but it was honoured by no attention from the throne, and little indulgence from particular patrons. The reign of Queen Anne was propitious to the fortunes of Swift and Pope, who lived in all the happy pride of independence. Young, sequestered from courts and preferment, possessed a moderate benefice in the country, and employed his time in a conscientious discharge of his ecclesiastical functions. Thomson, with the most benevolent heart that ever warmed the human breast, maintained a perpetual war with the difficulties of a narrow fortune. He enjoyed a place in chancery by the bounty of lord Talbot, of which he was divested by the succeeding chancellor. He afterwards enjoyed a small pension from Frederick prince of Wales, which was withdrawn in the sequel. About two years before his death, he obtained, by the interest of his friend lord Lyttleton, a comfortable place; but he did not live to taste the blessing of easy circumstances, and died in debt.*
* However he was neglected when living, his memory has been honoured with peculiar marks of regard, in an ample subscription for a new edition of his works. The profits were employed in erecting a monument to his fame in Westminster Abbey, a subscription to which his present majesty king George III. has liberally subscribed. The remaining surplus was distributed among his poor relations.
None of the rest whom we have named enjoyed any share of the royal bounty, except W. Whitehead, who succeeded to the place of laureate at the death of Cibber; and some of them whose merit was the most universally acknowledged, remained exposed to all the storms of indigence, and all the stings of mortification. While the queen lived, some countenance was given to learning. She conversed with Newton, and corresponded with Leibnitz. She took pains to acquire popularity; the royal family on certain days dined in public, for the satisfaction of the people: the court was animated with a freedom of spirit and vivacity, which rendered it at once brilliant and agreeable. At her death that spirit began to languish, and a total stagnation of gaiety and good humour ensued. It was succeeded by a sudden calm, an ungracious reserve, and a still rotation of insipid forms. *
* George II. by his queen Caroline, had two sons and five daughters, who attained the age of maturity. Frederick, prince of Wales, father to his present majesty George III.; William duke of Cumberland; Anne, the princess royal, married to the late prince of Orange, and mother to the present stadtholder; Mary, landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel; Louisa, late queen of Denmark; Amelia and Carolina, who were never married.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
MUSIC.
England was not defective in other arts that embellish and amuse. Music became a fashionable study, and its professors were generally caressed by the public. An Italian opera was maintained at a great expense, and well supplied with foreign performers. Private concerts were instituted in every corner of the metropolis. The compositions of Handel were universally admired, and he himself lived in affluence. It must be owned at the same time, that Geminiani was neglected, though his genius commanded esteem and veneration. Among the few natives of England who distinguished themselves by their talents in this art, Green, Howard, Arne, and Boyce, were the most remarkable.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.
The British soil, which had hitherto been barren in the article of painting, now produced some artists of extraordinary merit. Hogarth excelled all the world in exhibiting the scenes of ordinary life; in humour, character, and expression. Hayman became eminent for historical designs and conversation pieces. Reynolds and Ramsay distinguished themselves by their superior merit in portraits; a branch that was successfully cultivated by many other English painters. Wootton was famous for representing live animals in general; Seymour for race-horses; Lambert and the Smiths for landscapes; and Scot for sea-pieces. Several spirited attempts were made on historical subjects, but little progress was made in the sublime parts of painting. Essays of this kind were discouraged by a false taste, founded upon a reprobation of British genius. The art of engraving was brought to perfection by Strange, and laudably practised by Grignon, Baron, Ravenet, and several other masters; great improvements were made in mezzotinto, miniature, and enamel. Many fair monuments of sculpture or statuary were raised by Rysbrach, Roubilliac, and Wilton. Architecture, which had been cherished by the elegant taste of Burlington, soon became a favourite study; and many magnificent edifices were reared in different parts of the kingdom. Ornaments were carved in wood, and moulded in stucco, with all the delicacy of execution; but a passion for novelty had introduced into gardening, building, and furniture, an absurd Chinese taste, equally void of beauty and convenience. Improvements in the liberal and useful arts will doubtless be the consequence of that encouragement given to merit by the society instituted for these purposes, which we have described on another occasion. As for the Royal Society, it seems to have degenerated in its researches, and to have had very little share, for half a century at least, in extending the influence of true philosophy.
We shall conclude this reign with a detail of the forces and fleets of Great Britain, from whence the reader will conceive a just idea of her opulence and power.
[Illustration: 574.jpg FORCES AND FLEETS OF GREAT BRITAIN]
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
NOTES TO VOLUME II.
[Footnote 237: Note 2 K, p.237 Nothing was heard within doors in parliament, but sarcastic repartee and violent declamation between the two parties, who did not confine their altercation to these debates, but took the field against each other in periodical papers and occasional pamphlets. The paper called The Craftsman, had already risen into high reputation all over England, for the wit, humour, and solid reasoning it contained. Some of the best writers in the opposition, including lord Bolingbroke and Mr. P. made use of this vehicle to convey their animadversions upon the minister, who, on his side, employed the most wretched scribblers to defend his conduct. It was in consequence of two political pamphlets, written in opposition to each other, by “lord Hervey and Mr. P., and some recrimination they produced in the house of commons, that his lordship challenged the other to single combat, and had well nigh lost his life in the duel, which was fought in Hyde Park.]
[Footnote 260: Note 2. L, p. 260. Captain Jenkins was master of a Scottish merchant-ship. He was boarded by the captain of a Spanish guardacosta, who treated him in the most barbarous manner. The Spaniards, after having rummaged his vessel for what they called contraband commodities, without finding anything to justify their search, insulted him with the most opprobrious invectives. They tore off one of his ears, bidding him carry it to his king, and tell him they would serve him in the same manner should an opportunity offer: they tortured him with the most shocking cruelty, and threatened him with immediate death. This man was examined at the bar of the house of commons, and being asked by a member, what he thought when he found himself in the hands of such barbarians? “I recommended my soul to God,” said he, “and my cause to my country.” The behaviour of this brave seaman, the sight of his ear, which was produced, with his account of the indignities which had been offered to the nation and sovereign of Great Britain, filled the whole house with indignation. Jenkins was afterwards employed in the service of the East India company; he approved himself worthy of his good fortune, in a long engagement with the pirate Angria, during which he behaved with extraordinary courage and conduct; and saved his own ship, with three others that were under his convoy.]
[Footnote 262: Note 2 M, p. 262. Among the laws enacted in the course of this session was an act against gaming, which had become universal through all ranks of people, and likely to prove destructive to all morals, industry, and sentiment. Another bill passed, for granting a reward to Joanna Stevens, on her discovering, for the benefit of the public, a nostrum for the cure of persons afflicted with the stone--a medicine which has by no means answered the expectations of the legislature.
In the house of lords, complaint was made by lord Delaware of a satire, entitled Manners, written by Mr. Whitehead, in which some characters of distinction were severely lashed in the true spirit of poetry. It was voted a libel: a motion was made to take the author into custody; but he having withdrawn himself, the resentment of the house fell upon E. Dodsley, the publisher of the work, who was committed to the usher of the black rod, though lord Carteret, the earl of Abingdon, and lord Talbot, spoke in his behalf.]
[Footnote 283: Note 2 N, p.283. In May, a dreadful plague broke out at Messina in Sicily. It was imported in cotton and other commodities brought from the Morea; and swept off such a multitude of people, that the city was almost depopulated: all the galley slaves who were employed in burying the dead, perished by the contagion; and this was the fate of many priests and monks who administered to those who were infected. The dead bodies lay in heaps in the streets, corrupting the air, and adding fresh fuel to the rage of the pestilence. Numbers died miserably, for want of proper attendance and necessaries; and all was horror and desolation. At the beginning of winter it ceased, after having destroyed near fifty thousand inhabitants of Messina, and of the garrisons in the citadel and castle. It was prevented from spreading in Sicily by a strong barricado drawn from Melazzo to Taormina; but it was conveyed to Reggio in Calabria by the avarice of a broker of that place, who bought some goods at Messina. The king of Naples immediately ordered lines to be formed, together with a chain of troops, which cut off all communication between that place and the rest of the continent.]
[Footnote 301: Note 2 O, p. 301. This nobleman, so remarkable for his courage and thirst of glory, exhibited a very extraordinary instance of presence of mind on the morning that preceded this battle. He and some volunteers, accompanied by his aidecamp, and attended by two orderly dragoons, the rode out before day to reconnoitre the situation of the enemy; and fell in with one of their advanced guards. The sergeant who commanded it immediately turned out his men, and their pieces were presented when the earl first perceived them. Without betraying the least mark of disorder, he rode up to the sergeant, and assuming the character of a French general, told him, in that language, that there was no occasion for such ceremony. Then he asked, if they had perceived any of the enemy’s parties; and being answered in the negative, “Very well,” said he, “be upon your guard; and if you should be attacked, I will take care that you shall be sustained.” So saying, he and his company retired, before the sergeant could recollect himself from the surprise occasioned by this unexpected address. In all probability he was sensible of his mistake; for the incident was that very day publicly mentioned in the French army. The prince of Tingray, an officer in the Austrian service, having been taken prisoner in the battle that ensued, dined with mares-chal count Saxe, who dismissed him on his parole, and desired he would charge himself with a facetious compliment to his old friend, the earl of Crawford. He wished his lordship joy of being a French general, and said he could not help being displeased with the sergeant, as he had not procured him the honour of his lordship’s company at dinner.]
[Footnote 310: Note 2 P, p. 310. Such an expensive war could not be maintained without a very extraordinary exertion of a commercial spirit: accordingly we find that Great Britain, since the death of king William, has risen under our pressures with increased vigour and perseverance. Whether it be owing to the natural progression of trade extending itself from its origin to its _acme_, or _ne plus ultra_, or to the encouragement given by the administration to monied men of all denominations; or to necessity, impelling those who can no longer live on small incomes to risk their capitals in traffic, that they may have a chance for bettering their fortunes; or lastly, to a concurrence of all these causes; certain it is, the national exports and imports have been sensibly increasing for these forty years: the yearly medium of woollen exports, from the year 1738 to 1743 inclusive, amounted to about three millions and a half, which was a yearly increase, on the medium, of five hundred thousand pounds above the medium from 1718 to 1724. From this article, the reader will conceive the prodigious extent, and importance of the British commerce.]
[Footnote 321: Note 2 Q, p. 321. The resolutions of the commons on this head were printed by authority in the London Gazette, signifying, that those who were, or should be, proprietors of any part of the public debt, redeemable by law, incurred before Michaelmas, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, carrying an interest of four per centum per annum, who should, on or before the twenty-eighth day of February in that year, subscribe their names, signifying their consent to accept of an interest of three pounds per centum, to commence from the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, subject to the same provisions, notices, and classes of redemption, to which their respective sums at four per centum were then liable, should, in lieu of their present interest, be entitled to four per centum till the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty; and after that day, to three pounds ten shillings per centum per annum, till the twenty-fifth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven; and no part of that debt, except what was due to the East India company, should be redeemable to this period. That if any part of the national debt, incurred before last Michaelmas, redeemable by law, and carrying an interest of four per centum, should remain unsubscribed on or before the thirtieth day of May, the government should pay off the principal. For this purpose Ins majesty was enabled to borrow of any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, any sum or sums of money not exceeding that part of the national debt which might remain unsubscribed, to be charged on the sinking fund, upon any terms not exceeding the rate of interest in the foregoing proposal.
All the duties appropriated to the payment of the interest were still continued, and the surplus of these incorporated with the sinking fund for the discharge of the principal. Books were opened for the subscription at the Exchequer, the Bank of England, and the South Sea house; and copies of these resolutions transmitted to the directors of all the monied corporations.]
[Footnote 322: Note 2 R, p. 322. The most remarkable circumstance attending the progress of this bill, which made its way through both houses, and obtained the royal assent, was the number of contradictory petitions in favour and in prejudice of it, while it remained under consideration. The tanners of leather in and about the town of Sheffield in Yorkshire, represented, That if the bill should pass, the English iron would be undersold; consequently, a great number of furnaces and forges would be discontinued; in that case the woods used for fuel would stand uncut, and the tanners be deprived of oak bark sufficient for the continuance and support of their occupation. They nevertheless owned, that should the duty be removed from pig iron only, no such consequence could be apprehended; because, should the number of furnaces be lessened, that of forges would be increased. This was likewise the plea urged in divers remonstrances by masters of iron-works, gentlemen, and freeholders, who had tracts of wood-land in their possession. The owners, proprietors, and farmers of furnaces and iron forges, belonging to Sheffield and its neighbourhood, enlarged upon the great expense they had incurred in erecting and supporting iron-works, by means of which great numbers of his majesty’s subjects were comfortably supported. They expressed their apprehension, that should the bill pass into a law, it could not in any degree lessen the consumption of Swedish iron, which was used for purposes which neither the American nor British iron would answer; but that the proposed encouragement, considering the plenty and cheapness of wood in America, would enable the colonies to undersell the British iron, a branch of traffic which would be totally destroyed, to the ruin of many thousand labourers, who would be compelled to seek their livelihood in foreign countries. They likewise suggested, that if all the iron manufacturers of Great Britain should be obliged to depend upon a supply of iron from the plantations, which must ever be rendered precarious by the hazard of the seas and the enemy, the manufactures would probably decay for want of materials, and many thousand families be reduced to want and misery. On the other hand, the ironmongers and smiths belonging to the flourishing town of Birmingham in Warwickshire, presented a petition, declaring, That the bill would be of great benefit to the trade of the nation, as it would enable the colonists to make larger returns of their own produce, and encourage them to take a greater quantity of the British manufactures. They affirmed, that all the iron-works in the island of Great Britain did not supply half the quantity of that metal sufficient to carry on the manufacture; that if this deficiency could be supplied from the colonies in America, the importation would cease, and considerable sums of money be saved to the nation. They observed, that the importation of iron from America could no more affect the iron-works and freeholders of the kingdom, than the like quantity imported from any other country; but they prayed that the people of America might be restrained from erecting slitting or rolling-mills, or forges for plating iron, as they would interfere with the manufacturers of Great Britain.
Many remonstrances to the same effect were presented from different parts of the kingdom, and it appeared, upon the most exact inquiry, that the encouragement of American iron would prove extremely beneficial to the kingdom, as it had been found, upon trial, applicable to all the uses of Swedish iron, and as good in every respect as the produce of that country.]
[Footnote 330: Note 2 S, p. 330. One of the most remarkable acts which passed in the course of this session, was that for regulating the commencement of the year, and correcting the calendar, according to the Gregorian computation, which had been adopted by all other nations in Europe. By this new law it was decreed that the new year should begin on the 1st day of January, and that eleven intermediate nominal days, between the second and fourteenth days of September, 1752, should for that time be omitted; so that the day succeeding the second should be denominated the fourteenth of that month. By this establishment of the new style, the equinoxes and solstices will happen nearly on the same nominal days on which they fell in the year 325, at the council of Nice; and the correspondence between the English merchants and those of foreign countries will be greatly facilitated, with respect to the dates of letters and accounts.]
[Footnote 331: Note 2 T, p. 330. An indulgent parent was poisoned by his only daughter, on whom, besides other marks of tenderness and paternal affection, he had bestowed a liberal education, which greatly aggravated her guilt and ingratitude. Another young woman was concerned in the assassination of her own uncle, who had been her constant benefactor and sole guardian. A poor old woman, having, from the ignorance and superstition of her neighbours, incurred the suspicion of sorcery and witchcraft, was murdered in Hertfordshire by the populace, with all the wantonness of barbarity. Rape and murder were perpetrated upon an unfortunate woman in the neighbourhood of London, and an innocent man suffered death for this complicated outrage, while the real criminals assisted at his execution, heard him appeal to heaven for his innocence, and, in the character of friends, embraced him, while he stood on the brink of eternity.]
[Footnote 348: Note 2 U, p. 348. Several European nations had settlements at Surat, which was one of the most frequented cities of the East, from the great concourse of Mahometan pilgrims, who make it their road from India, in their visits to the tomb of their prophet at Mecca. In order to keep the seas clear of pirates between Surat and the gulf of Arabia and Persia, the mogul had been at the annual expense of a large ship, fitted out on purpose to carry the pilgrims to Judda, which is within a small distance of Mecca. For the security of this ship, as well as to protect the trade of Surat, he granted to his admiral, _the fiddee_, chief of a colony of caffrees, or blacks, a revenue called the tanka, to the value of three lacks of rupees, amounting to above thirty-seven thousand pounds, arising partly from the adjacent lands, and partly from the revenues of Surat, which were paid him yearly by the governor of the castle, who is appointed by the mogul to keep the city under proper subjection, without, however, interfering with the government of it.]
[Footnote 357: Note 2 X, p. 357. The ministry having resolved to send a body of forces to America, to act in conjunction with the provincial troops raised on that continent, it became necessary that the mutiny act should be rendered more clear and extensive. When this bill, therefore, fell under consideration, it was improved with a new clause, providing, “That all officers and soldiers of any troops being mustered and in pay, which are or shall be raised in any of the British provinces in America, by authority of the respective governors or governments thereof, shall at all times, and in all places, when they happen to join or act in conjunction with his majesty’s British forces, be liable to martial law and discipline, in like manner, to all intents and purposes, as the British forces are; and shall be subject to the same trial, penalties, and punishment.”]
[Footnote 364: Note 2 Y, p. 364. The king, on his side, promised to pay to the landgrave, for these succours, eighty crowns banco, by way of levy-money, for every trooper or dragoon duly armed and mounted, and thirty crowns banco for every foot soldier; the crown to be reckoned at fifty-three sols of Holland, or at four shillings and ninepence three farthings English money; and also to pay to his serene highness, for the eight thousand men, an annual subsidy of an hundred and fifty thousand crowns banco, during the four years, to commence from the day of signing the treaty; which subsidy was to be increased to three hundred thousand crowns yearly, from the time of requiring the troops, to the time of their entering into British pay; and in case of their being dismissed, the said subsidy of three hundred thousand crowns was then to revive and be continued during the residue of the term: but, if twelve thousand men were demanded and furnished, the subsidy was then to be increased in proportion; and in case the king of Great Britain should at any time think fit to send back these troops before the expiration of the treaty, notice thereof was to be given to his serene highness three months beforehand: one month’s pay was to be allowed them for their return, and they were to be furnished gratis with the necessary transport vessels.]
[Footnote 372: Note 2 Z, p. 372. It is with pleasure we seize this opportunity of recording an instance of gallantry and patriotism in a British officer, which would have done honour to the character of a Roman tribune. Captain Cunningham, an accomplished young gentleman, who acted as engineer in second at Minorca, being preferred to a majority at home, and recalled to his regiment by an express order, had repaired with his family to Nice in Italy, where he waited for the opportunity of a ship bound for England, when he received certain intelligence that the French armament was destined for the place he had quitted. His lady, whom he tenderly loved, was just delivered, and two of his children were dangerously ill of the small-pox. He recollected that the chief engineer at Minorca was infirm, and indeed disabled by the gout, and that many things were wanting for the defence of the fortress. His zeal for the honour and service of his country immediately triumphed over the calls of tenderness and of nature. He expended a considerable sum of money in purchasing timber for the platforms, and other necessaries for the garrison; hired a ship for transporting them thither; and tearing himself from his wife and children, thus left among strangers in a foreign country, embarked again for Minorca, where he knew he should be in a peculiar manner exposed to all the dangers of a furious siege. In the course of this desperate service he acquitted himself with that vigilance, skill, and active courage, which he had on divers former occasions displayed, until the assault was given to the queen’s bastion; when, mixing with the enemy, sword in hand, he was disabled in his right arm by the shot of a musket and the thrust of a bayonet. His behaviour was so acceptable to his sovereign, that when he returned to England he was preferred to the rank of colonel in the Guards. He afterwards acted as chief engineer in the attempts and descents which were made on the French coast. Though grievously maimed, he accepted the same office in the expedition to Guadaloupe, where he died universally regretted.]
[Footnote 378: Note 3 A, p. 378. When the French ambassador returned to London, he proposed that orders should be immediately despatched to the English governors in America, with express orders to desist from any new undertaking, and all acts of hostility; but with regard to the lands on the Ohio, to put, without delay, matters on the same footing in which they stood before the late war, that the respective claims of both nations might be amicably referred to the commissaries at Paris. The British court agreed to the cessation of hostilities, and the discussion of the disputes by the ministers of the two crowns, on condition that all the possessions in America should be previously put in the situation prescribed by the treaty of Utrecht, confirmed by that of Aix-la-Chapelle. The French ministry, instead of complying with this condition, produced an evasive draft of a preliminary convention, and this was answered by a counter-proposal. At length the ambassador of France demanded, as preliminary conditions, that Great Britain would renounce all claim to the south coast of the river St. Laurence, and the lakes that discharge themselves into that river; cede to the French twenty leagues of country lying along the river of Fundy, which discovers Acadia, or Nova Scotia; and all the land between the rivers Ohio and Ouabache. A memorial was afterwards presented on the same subject, including the affairs of the neutral islands in the West Indies; but this was amply refuted in another piece, in which the British ministry observed, that even at this very opening of the commission established in Paris, for terminating amicably the disputes in North America, the French invaded Nova Scotia, erected three forts in the heart of that province, and would have destroyed the English settlement at Halifax, had they not been prevented: that the like hostilities were committed upon his Britannic majesty’s subjects on the Ohio and Indian lakes, where the governors appointed by the French king, without any shadow of right, prohibited the English from trading; seized their traders by force, and sent them prisoners to France; invaded the territories of Virginia, attacked a fort that covered its frontier, and, to secure their usurpations, erected, with an armed force, a chain of forts on the lands which they had invaded; that his Britannic majesty had complained of these hostilities to the court of Versailles, but without effect; so that he found himself obliged to provide for the security of his subjects; and as the encroachments made by France were hostile, it could never be unlawful, or irreconcile-able with the assurance of his majesty’s peaceable disposition, to repel an aggressor; and that the same motive of self-defence had forced him to seize the French ships and sailors, in order to deprive that court of the means of making an invasion, with which their ministers in all the courts of Europe had menaced England.]
[Footnote 379: Note 3B, p. 379. _To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his absence, to the Commander-in-Chief in his Majesty’s garrison of Gibraltar._ War-office, March 21, 1756. “Sir,--I am commanded to acquaint you, that it is his majesty’s pleasure that you receive into your garrison lord Robert Bertie’s regiment to do duty there; and in case you should apprehend that the French intend to make any attempt upon his majesty’s island of Minorca, it is his majesty’s pleasure that you make a detachment out of the troops of your garrison equal to a battalion, to be commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and major; such lieutenant-colonel and major to be the eldest in your garrison, to be put on board the fleet for the relief of Minorca, as the admiral shall think expedient, who is to carry them to the said island. I am, your humble servant, B.”
_To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his absence, to the Commander-in-Chief at Gibraltar._ War-office, March 26, 1756. “Sir,--I am commanded to acquaint you, that it is his majesty’s pleasure, in case the island of Minorca should be in any likelihood of being attacked, that you make a detachment from the troops in your garrison equal to a battalion, commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and major, for the relief of that place, to be put on board the fleet, at the disposition of the admiral: such lieutenant-colonel and major to be the eldest in your garrison.”
To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his absence, to the Commander-in-chief in his Majesty’s garrison of Gibraltar. War-office, April 1, 1756. “Sir,--It is his majesty’s pleasure, that you receive into your garrrison the women and children belonging to lord Robert Bertie’s regiment.”
_To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or the Commander-in-Chief at Gibraltar._ War-office, May 12, 1756. “Sir,--I wrote to you by general Steward: if that order is not complied with, then you are now to make a detachment of seven hundred men out of your own regiment and Guise’s; and also another detachment out of Pulteney’s and Panmure’s regiments, and send them on board the fleet for the relief of Mahon. But if that order has been complied with, then you are to make only one detachment of seven hundred men, to be commanded by another lieutenant-colonel and major, and to send it to Mahon; and you are also to detain all such empty vessels as shall come into your harbour, and keep them in readiness for any further transportation of troops. I have also his royal highness the duke of Cumberland’s commands, to desire that you will keep your garrison as alert as possible during this critical time, and give such other assistance as may be in your power for the relief of Minorca; taking care, however, not to fatigue or endanger your own garrison.”]
[Footnote 387: Note 3 C, p. 387. His majesty seems to have abated of this respect in the sequel, if we may believe the assertions of his Polish majesty’s queen and the court of Vienna, who affirmed, that sentinels were posted within the palace where the queen and royal family resided; as also at the door of the secret cabinet, where the papers relating to foreign transactions were deposited. The keys of this cabinet were seized, and all the writings demanded. The whole Saxon ministry were discharged from their respective employments, and a new commission was established by the king of Prussia for the administration of affairs in general. When the queen entreated this prince to remove the sentinels posted within the palace and contiguous passages, agreeably to his assurances that all due respect should be observed towards the royal family, the king ordered the guards to be doubled, and sent an officer to demand of her majesty the keys of the secret cabinet. The queen obtained this officer’s consent that the doors should be sealed up, but afterwards he returned with orders to break them open: then her majesty, placing herself before the door, said, she trusted so much to the promise of the king of Prussia, that she could not believe he had given such orders. The officer declaring that his orders were positive, and that he durst not disobey them, she continued in the same place, declaring, that if violence was to be used, he must begin with her. The officer returning to acquaint the king with what had passed, her majesty conjured the ministers of Prussia and England to remind his majesty of his promise; but her representations had no effect: the officer returned with fresh orders to use force, in spite of the opposition she might make against it in person. The queen, finding herself in danger of her life, at length withdrew: the doors were forced, the chests broke open, and all the papers seized.]
[Footnote 388: Note 3 D, p. 388. The letter was to the following effect:--“Veldt-Mareschal Count Rutowski, It is not without extreme sorrow I understand the deplorable situation, which a chain of misfortunes has reserved for you, the rest of my generals, and my whole army; but we must acquiesce in the dispensations of Providence, and console ourselves with the rectitude of our sentiments and intentions. They would force me, it seems, as you gave me to understand by major-general the baron de Dyherrn, to submit to conditions the more severe, in proportion as the circumstances become more necessitous. I cannot hear them mentioned. I am a free monarch: such I will live; such I will die; and I will both live and die with honour. The fate of my army I leave wholly to your discretion. Let your council of war determine whether you must surrender prisoners of war, fall by the sword, or die by famine. May your resolutions, if possible, be conducted by humanity: whatever they may be, I have no longer any share in them; and I declare you shall not be answerable for aught but one thing, namely, not to carry arms against me or my allies. I pray God may have you, Mr. Mareschal, in his holy keeping.--Given at Koningstein, the 14th of October, 1756. “AUGUSTUS, Kex.” “To the Veldt-Mareschal the Count Rutowski.”
[Footnote 392: Note 3 E, p. 392. Rear-admiral Knowles being, in the month of December, one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, tried at Deptford, before a court-martial, for his behaviour in and relating to an action which happened on the first day of October in the preceding year, between a British squadron under his command, and a squadron of Spain, the court was unanimously of opinion, that the said Knowles, while he was standing for the enemy, might, by a different disposition of his squadron, have begun the attack with six ships as early in the day as four of them were engaged; and that, therefore, by his neglecting so to do, he gave the enemy a manifest advantage; that the said Knowles remained on board the ship Cornwall with his flag, after she was disabled from continuing the action, though he might, upon her being disabled, have shifted his flag on board another ship; and the court were unanimously of opinion he ought to have done so, in order to have conducted and directed, during the whole action, the motions of the squadron intrusted to his care and conduct. Upon consideration of the whole conduct of the said Knowles, relating to that action, the court did unanimously agree that he fell under part of the fourteenth article of the articles of war, namely, the word negligence, and no other; and also under the twenty-third article.--The court, therefore, unanimously adjudged, that he should be reprimanded for not bringing up the squadron in closer order than he did, and not beginning the attack with as great force as he might have done; and also for not shifting his flag, upon the Cornwall’s being disabled.]
[Footnote 395: Note 3 F, p. 395. It was enacted, that persons pawning, exchanging, or disposing of goods, without leave of the owner, should suffer in the penalty of twenty shillings; and, on non-payment, be committed for fourteen days to hard labour; afterwards, if the money could not be then paid, to be whipped publicly in the house of correction, or such other place as the justice of the peace should appoint, on publication of the prosecutor; that every pawnbroker should make entry of the person’s name and place of abode who pledges any goods with him; and the pledger, if he require it, should have a duplicate of that entry; that a pawnbroker receiving linen or apparel intrusted to others to be washed or mended, should forfeit double the sum lent upon it, and restore the goods; that upon oath of any person whose goods are unlawfully pawned or exchanged, the justice should issue a warrant to search the suspected person’s house; and upon refusal of admittance the officer might break open the door; that goods pawned for any sum not exceeding ten pounds might be recovered within two years, the owner making oath of the pawning, and tendering the principal, interest, and charges; that goods remaining unredeemed for two years should be forfeited and sold, the overplus to be accounted for to the owner on demand.]
[Footnote 396: Note 3 G, p. 395. It likewise imported, that all contracts or agreements made between clothiers and weavers in respect to wages, should, from and after the first of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, be valid, notwithstanding any rate established, or to be established; but that these contracts or agreements should extend only to the actual prices or rates of workmanship or wages, and not to the payment thereof in any other manner than in money; and that if any clothier should refuse or neglect to pay the weaver the wages or price agreed on, in money, within two days after the work should be performed and delivered, the same being demanded, he should forfeit forty shillings for every such offence.]
[Footnote 401: Note 3 H, p. 401. Admiral F..... s’s _reasons for not signing the warrant for admiral Byng’s execution._
“It may be thought great presumption in me to differ from so great authority as that of the twelve judges; but when a man is called upon to sign his name to an act which is to give authority to the shedding of blood, he ought to be guided by his own conscience, and not by the opinions of other men.
“In the case before us, it is not the merit of admiral Byng that I consider; whether he deserves death or not, is not a question for me to decide; but whether or not his life can be taken away by the sentence pronounced on him by the court-martial, and after having so clearly explained their motives for pronouncing such a sentence, is the point which alone has employed my serious consideration.
“The twelfth article of war, on which admiral Byng’s sentence is grounded, says (according to my understanding of its meaning), ‘That every person, who, in time of action, shall withdraw, keep back, or not come into fight, or do his utmost, &c. through motives of cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall suffer death.’ The court-martial does, in express words, acquit admiral Byng of cowardice and disaffection, and does not name the word negligence. Admiral Byng does not, as I conceive, fall under the letter or description of the twelfth article of war. It may be said that negligence is implied, though the word is not mentioned, otherwise the court-martial would not have brought his offence under the twelfth article, having acquitted him of cowardice and disaffection. But it must be acknowledged that the negligence implied cannot be wilful negligence; for wilful negligence in admiral Byng’s situation, must have proceeded either from cowardice or disaffection, and he is expressly acquitted of both these crimes; besides, these crimes, which are implied only and not named, may indeed justify suspicion and private opinion, but cannot satisfy the conscience in case of blood.
“Admiral Byng’s fate was referred to a court-martial, his life and death were left to their opinions. The court-martial condemn him to death, because, as they expressly say, they were under a necessity of doing so by reason of the letter of the law, the severity of which they complained of, because it admits of no mitigation. The court-martial expressly say, that for the sake of their consciences, as well as in justice to the prisoner, they most earnestly recommend him to his majesty for mercy; it is evident, then, that in the opinions and consciences of the judges he was not deserving of death.
“The question then is, shall the opinions or necessities of the court-martial determine admiral Byng’s fate? If it should be the latter, he will be executed contrary to the intentions and meaning of his judges; if the former, his life is not forfeited. His judges declare him not deserving of death; but, mistaking either the meaning of the law, or the nature of his offence, they bring him under an article of war, which, according to their own description of his offence, he does not, I conceive, fall under; and then they condemn him to death, because, as they say, the law admits of no mitigation. Can a man’s life be taken away by such a sentence? I would not willingly be misunderstood, and have it believed that I judge admiral Byng’s deserts; that was the business of a court-martial, and it is my duty only to act according to my conscience; which, after deliberate consideration, assisted by the best light a poor understanding can afford it, remains still in doubt, and therefore I cannot consent to sign a warrant whereby the sentence of the court-martial may be carried into execution; for I cannot help thinking, that however criminal admiral Byng may be, his life is not forfeited by that sentence. I do not mean to find fault with other men’s opinions; all I endeavour at is, to give reasons for my own; and all I desire or wish is, that I may not be misunderstood; I do not pretend to judge admiral Byng’s deserts, nor to give any opinion on the propriety of the act. “Signed, 6th Feb. 1757, at the Admiralty, “ J. F..... S.”]
[Footnote 419: Note 3 I, p. 419. “The Imperial grenadiers (says he) are an admirable corps; one hundred companies defended a rising ground, which my best infantry could not carry. Ferdinand, who commanded them, returned seven times to the charge; but to no purpose. At first he mastered a battery, but could not hold it. The enemy had the advantage of a numerous and well-served artillery. It did honour to Lichtenstein, who had the direction. Only the Prussian army can dispute it with him. My infantry were too few. All my cavalry were present, and idle spectators, excepting a bold push by my household troops, and some dragoons. Ferdinand attacked without powder; the enemy, in return, were not sparing of theirs. They had the advantage of a rising ground, of intrenchments, and of a prodigious artillery. Several of my regiments were repulsed by their musketry. Henry performed wonders. I tremble for my worthy brothers; they are too brave. Fortune turned her back on me this day. I ought to have expected it; she is a female, and I am no gallant. In fact, I ought to have had more infantry. Success, my dear lord, often occasions destructive confidence. Twenty-four battalions were not sufficient to dislodge sixty thousand men from an advantageous post. Another time we will do better. What say you of this league, which has only the marquis of Brandenburgh for its object? The great elector would be surprised to see his grandson at war with the Russians, the Austrians, almost all Germany, and an hundred thousand French auxiliaries. I know not whether it would be disgrace in me to submit, but I am sure there will be no glory in vanquishing me.”]
[Footnote 422: Note 3 K, p. 422. This remarkable capitulation, which we shall give here at full length, on account of the disputes that rose shortly after, concerning what the French called an infraction of it, was to the following effect:--
His majesty, the king of Denmark--touched with the distresses of the countries of Bremen and Verden, to which he has always granted his special protection; and being desirous, by preventing those countries from being any longer the theatre of war, to spare also the effusion of blood in the armies which are ready to dispute the possession thereof--hath employed his mediation by the ministry of the count de Lynar. His royal highness the duke of Cumberland, general of the army of the allies, on the one part, and his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, general of the king of France’s forces in Germany, on the other, have, in consideration of the intervention of his Danish majesty, respectively engaged their word of honour to the count de Lynar, to abide by the convention hereafter stipulated; and he, the count de Lynar, correspondently to the magnanimity of the king his master’s intention, obliges himself to procure the guarantee mentioned in the present convention; so that it shall be sent to him, with his full powers, which there was no time to make out in the circumstances which hurried his departure.
Article I. Hostilities shall cease on both sides within twenty-four hours, or sooner, if possible. Orders for this purpose shall be immediately sent to the detached corps.
II. The auxiliary troops of the army of the duke of Cumberland, namely, those of Hesse, Brunswick, Saxe-Gotha, and even those of the count de la Lippe Bucke-bourg, shall be sent home; and as it is necessary to settle
## particularly their march to their respective countries, a general
officer of each nation shall be sent from the army of the allies, with whom shall be settled the route of those troops, the divisions they shall march in, their subsistence on their march, and their passports to be granted them by his excellency the duke de Richelieu to go to their own countries, where they shall be placed and distributed as shall be agreed upon between the court of France and their respective sovereigns.
III. His royal highness the duke of Cumberland obliges himself to pass the Elbe, with such part of his army as he shall not be able to place in the city of Stade; that the part of his forces which shall enter into garrison in the said city, and which it is supposed may amount to between four and six thousand men, shall remain there under the guarantee of his majesty the king of Denmark, without committing any act of hostility; nor, on the other hand, shall they be exposed to any of the French troops. In consequence thereof, commissaries, named on each side, shall agree upon the limits to be fixed round that place, for the convenieucy of the garrison; which limits shall not extend beyond half a league or a league from the place, according to the nature of the ground or circumstances, which shall be fairly settled by the commissaries. The rest of the Hanoverian army shall go and take quarters in the country beyond the Elbe; and, to facilitate the march of those troops, his excellency the duke de Richelieu shall concert with a general officer, sent from the Hanoverian army, the route they shall take; obliging himself to give the necessary passports and security for the free passage of them and their baggage, to the places of their destination; his royal highness the duke of Cumberland reserving to himself the liberty of negotiating between the two courts for an extension of those quarters. As to the French troops, they shall remain in the rest of the duchies of Bremen and Verden, till the definitive reconciliation of the two sovereigns.
IV.. As the aforesaid articles are to be executed as soon as possible, the Hanoverian army, and the corps which are detached from it,
## particularly that which is at Buck Schantz and the neighbourhood, shall
retire under Stade in the space of eight-and-forty hours. The French army shall not pass the river Oste, in the duchy of Bremen, till the limits be regulated. It shall, besides, keep all the posts and countries of which it is in possession; and, not to retard the regulation of the limits between the armies, commissaries shall be nominated and sent on the 10th instant to Bremen-worden by his royal highness the duke of Cumberland, and his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, to regulate, as well the limits to be assigned to the French army, as those that are to be observed by the garrison at Stade, according to Art. III.
V. All the aforesaid articles shall be faithfully executed, according to their form and tenor, and under the faith of his majesty the king of Denmark’s guarantee, which the count de Lynar, his minister, engages to procure.
Done at the camp at Closter-Seven, 8th Sept. 1757. (Signed) WILLIAM.
SEPARATE ARTICLES. Upon the representation made by the count de Lynar, with a view to explain some dispositions made by the present convention, the following articles have been added:--
I. It is the intention of his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, that the allied troops of his royal highness the duke of Cumberland shall be sent back to their respective countries, according to the form mentioned in the second article; and that, as to their separation and distribution in the country, it shall be regulated between the courts, those troops not being considered as prisoners of war.
II. It having been represented that the country of Lunenberg cannot accommodate more than fifteen battalions and six squadrons, and that the city of Stade cannot absolutely contain the garrison of six thousand men allotted to it, his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, being pressed by M. de Lynar, who supported this representation by the guarantee of his Danish majesty, gives his consent; and his royal highness the duke of Cumberland engages to cause fifteen battalions and six squadrons to pass the Elbe, and the whole body of hunters, and the remaining ten battalions and twenty-eight squadrons shall be placed in the town of Stade, and the places nearest to it that are within the line, which shall be marked by posts from the mouth of the Liche in the Elbe, to the mouth of the Elmerbeck in the river Oste; provided always, that the said ten battalions and twenty-eight squadrons shall be quartered there as they are at the time of signing this convention, and shall not be recruited under any pretext, or augmented in any case; and this clause is particularly guaranteed by the count de Lynar in the name of his Danish majesty.
III. Upon the representation of his royal highness the duke of Cumberland, that the army and the detached corps cannot both retire under Stade in eight-and-forty hours, agreeable to the convention, his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu hath signified, that he will grant them proper time, provided the corps encamped at Buck Schantz, as well as the army encamped at Bremen-worden, begin their inarch to retire in four-and-twenty hours after signing the convention. The time necessary for other arrangements, and the execution of the articles concerning the respective limits, shall be settled between lieutenant-general Sporcken, and the marquis de Villemar, first lieutenant-general of the king’s army. Done, &c]
[Footnote 433: Note 3 L, p. 433. The letter, which was written in French, we have translated for the reader’s satisfaction:--“I am informed that the design of a treaty of neutrality for the electorate of Hanover is not yet laid aside. Is it possible that your majesty can have so little fortitude and constancy, as to be dispirited by a small reverse of fortune? Are affairs so ruinous that they cannot be repaired? I hope your majesty will consider the step you have made me hazard, and remember that you are the sole cause of these misfortunes that now impend over my head. I should never have abandoned the alliance of France, but for your flattering assurances. I do not now repent of the treaty I have concluded with your majesty: but I expect you will not ingloriously leave me at the mercy of my enemies, after having brought upon me all the force of Europe. I depend upon your adhering to your repeated engagements of the twenty-sixth of last month, and that you will listen to no treaty in which I am not comprehended.”]
[Footnote 438: Note 3 M, p. 438. It was enacted, That every person subscribing for five hundred pounds, should be entitled to four hundred and fifty in annuities, and fifty pounds in lottery tickets, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser sum; that the lottery should consist of tickets of the value of ten pounds each, in a proportion not exceeding eight blanks to a prize; the blanks to be of the value of six pounds each; the blanks and prizes to bear an interest after the rate of three pounds per cent., to commence from the first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine; and that the sum of four millions five hundred thousand pounds, to be raised by annuities, should bear an interest after the rate of three pounds ten shillings percent, from the fifth day of July in the present year; which annuities should stand reduced to three pounds per cent, after the expiration of twenty-four years, and afterwards he redeemable in the whole, or in part, by sums not less than five hundred thousand pounds, at one time: six months’ notice having been first given of such payments respectively; that any subscriber might, on or before the twenty-ninth day of April, make a deposit of ten pounds per cent, on such sums as he should choose to subscribe towards raising these five millions, with the cashiers of the bank, as a security for his future payments on the days appointed for that purpose; that the several sums so received by the cashiers should be paid into the receipt of the exchequer, to be applied from time to time to such services as should then have been voted by the house of commons in this session of parliament, and not otherwise; that any subscriber, paying the whole or any part of his subscription previous to the clays appointed for the respective payments, should be allowed a discount at the rate of three per cent, from the days of such respective payments to the respective times on which such payments were directed to be made, and that all persons who should make their full payments on the said lottery, should receive their tickets as soon as they could be conveniently made out.]
[Footnote 440: Note 3 N, p. 440. Among those rendered perpetual, we find an act of the 13th and 14th of Charles II. for preventing theft and rapine. An act of the 9th of George I. for punishing persons going armed in disguise. A clause in the act of the 6th of George II. to prevent the breaking down the bank of any river; and another clause in the said act, to prevent the treacherous cutting of hop-binds. Several clauses in an act of the 10th of George II. for punishing persons setting on fire any mine, &c. The temporary part of the act of the 20th of George II. for taking away the hereditary jurisdictions of Scotland, relating to the power of appealing to circuit courts. Those continued were,--1. An act of the 12th of George II. for granting liberty to carry sugar, &c, until the twenty-ninth of September, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and to the end of next session of parliament. 2. An act of the 5th of George II. to prevent frauds by bankrupts, &c., for the same period. 3. An act of the 8th of George II. for encouraging the importation of naval stores, &c, for the same period. 4. An act of the 19th of George II. for preventing frauds in the admeasurement of coals, &c. until June 24, 1759; and to this was added a perpetual clause for preventing the stealing or destroying of madder roots. 5. An act of the 9th George II. for encouraging the manufacture of British sail-cloth until the twenty-ninth of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four. 6. An act of the 4th of George II. for granting an allowance upon British-made gunpowder, for the same period. 7, An act of the 4th of George II. for encouraging the trade of the sugar colonies, until the twenty-ninth of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. And 8, so much of the act of the 15th and 16th of George II. to empower the importers of rum, &c, as relates to landing it before the payment of duties, until the 29th of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four.]
[Footnote 461: Note 3 O, p. 461. _Translation of the Letter written by the Duke of Brunswick to his brother Prince Ferdinand._ “Sir,--I know you too well to doubt that the situation in which we stand at present, with respect to each other, gives you abundance of uneasiness; nor will you doubt that it gives me equal concern. Indeed, it afflicts me greatly. Meanwhile I could never, my dearest brother, have believed that you would be the person who should carry away from me my eldest son. I am exceedingly mortified to find myself under the hard necessity of telling you that this step is contrary to the law of nations, and the constitution of the empire; and that, if you persist in it, you will disgrace your family, and bring a stain upon your country, which you pretend to serve. The hereditary prince, my son, was at Hamburgh by my order, and you have carried him to Stade. Could he distrust his uncle,--an uncle who hath done so much honour to his family? Could he believe that this uncle would deprive him of liberty, a liberty never refused to the lowest officer? I ordered him to make a tour to Holland: could not the lowest officer have done as much? Let us suppose for a moment that my troops, among whom he served, were to have staid with the Hanoverians, would it not have been still in my power to give an officer leave of absence, or even leave to resign his commission? And would you hinder your brother, the head of your family, and of such a family as ours, to exercise this right with regard to a son, who is the hereditary prince, of whose rights and prerogatives you cannot be ignorant? It is impossible you could have conceived such designs, without the suggestion of others. Those who did suggest them have trampled on the rights of nature, of nations, and of the princes of Germany; they have induced you to add to all these the most cruel insult on a brother whom you love, and who always loved you with the warmest affection. Would you have your brother lay his just complaints against you before the whole empire, and all Europe? Are not your proceedings without example? What is Germany become? What are its princes become, and our house in particular? Is it the interest of the two kings, the cause of your country, and my cause that you pretend to support?--I repeat it, brother, that this design could not have been framed by you. I again command my son to pursue his journey and I cannot conceive you will give the least obstruction; if you should (which I pray God avert), I solemnly declare that I will not be constrained by such measures, nor shall I ever forget what I owe to myself. As to my troops, you may see what I have written on that head to the Hanoverian ministry. The duke of Cumberland, by the convention of Closter-Seven, dismissed them, and sent them home; the said ministry gave me notice of this convention, as a treaty by which I was bound. The march of the troops was settled; and an incident happening, they halted: that obstacle being removed, they were to have continued their march. The court of Hanover will be no longer bound by the convention, while I not only accepted it upon their word, but have also, in conformity with their instructions, negotiated at Versailles, and at Vienna. After all these steps, they would have me contradict myself, break my word, and entirely ruin my estate, as well as my honour. Did you ever know your brother guilty of such things? True it is, I have, as you say, sacrificed my all; or rather, I have been sacrificed. The only thing left me is my honour; and in the unhappy contrast of our situations, I lament both you and myself, that it should be from you, my dear brother, I should receive the cruel advice to give up my honour. I cannot listen to it: I cannot recede from my promise. My troops, therefore, must return home, agreeably to what the duke of Cumberland and the Hanoverian ministry stipulated with regard to me in the strongest manner. I am afraid that the true circumstances of things are concealed from you. Not to detain your express too long, I shall send you, by the post, copies of all I have written to the Hanoverian ministry. It will grieve your honest heart to read it. I am, with a heart almost broken, yet full of tenderness for you, your, &c. “Blanckenbourg, Nov. 27, 1757.”]
[Footnote 467: Note 3 P, p. 467. A detail of the cruelties committed by those barbarians cannot be read without horror. They not only burned a great number of villages, but they ravished, rifled, murdered, and mutilated the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex, without any other provocation or incitement than brutal lust and wantonness of barbarity. They even violated the sepulchres of the dead, which have been held sacred among the most savage nations. At Camin and Breckholtz they forced open the graves and sepulchral vaults, and stripped the bodies of generals Schlaberndorf and Ruitz, which had been deposited there. But the collected force of their vengeance was discharged against Custrin, the capital of the New Marche of Brandenburgh, situated at the conflux of the Warta and the Oder, about fifteen English miles from Franckfort. The particulars of the disaster that befel this city, are
## particularly related in the following extracts from a letter written by
an inhabitant and eye-witness.
“On the thirteenth of August, about three o’clock in the afternoon, a sudden report was spread that a body of Russian hussars and cossacks appeared in sight of the little suburb. All the people were immediately in motion, and the whole city was filled with terror, especially as we were certainly informed that the whole Russian army was advancing from Meseric and Konigswalda, by the way of Landsberg. A reinforcement was immediately sent to our piquet-guard, in the suburb, amounting, by this junction, to three hundred men, who were soon attacked by the enemy, and the skirmish lasted from four till seven o’clock in the evening. During this dispute, we could plainly perceive, from our ramparts and church-steeple, several persons of distinction mounted on English horses, reconnoitring our fortification through perspective glasses. They retired, however, when our cannon began to fire: then our piquet took possession of their former post in the suburb; and the reinforcement we had sent from the city returned, after having broken down the bridge over the Oder. Next day count Dohna, who commanded the army near Franckfort, sent in a reinforcement of four battalions, ten squadrons, and a small body of hussars, under the command of lieutenant-general Scherlemmer. The hussars and a body of dragoons were added to the piquet of the little suburb; the four battalions pitched their tents on the Anger, between the suburbs and the fortification; and the rest of the dragoons remained in the field to cover the long suburb. General Scherlemmer, attended by our governor, colonel Schuck, went with a small party to observe the enemy; but were obliged to retire, and were pursued by the cossacks to the walls of the city. Between four and five o’clock next morning the poor inhabitants were roused from their sleep by the noise of the cannon, intermingled with the dismal shrieks and hideous yellings of the cossacks belonging to the Russian army. Alarmed at this horrid noise, I ascended the church-steeple, from whence I beheld the whole plain, extending from the little suburb to the forest, covered with the enemy’s troops, and our light horse, supported by the infantry, engaged in different places with their irregulars. At eight I descried a body of the enemy’s infantry, whose van consisted of four or five thousand men, advancing towards the vineyard, in the neighbourhood of which they had raised occasional batteries in the preceding-evening; from these they now played on our piquet-guard and hussars, who were obliged to retire. They then fired, _en ricochet_, on the tents and baggage of the four battalions encamped on the Anger, who were also compelled to retreat. Having thus cleared the environs, they threw into the city such a number of bombs and red-hot bullets, that by nine in the morning it was set on fire in three different places; and, the streets being-narrow, it burned with such fury that all our endeavours to extinguish it proved ineffectual. At this time the whole atmosphere appeared like a shower of fiery rain and hail; and the miserable inhabitants thought of nothing but saving their lives by running into the open fields. The whole place was filled with terror and consternation, and resounded with the shrieks of women and children, who ran about in the utmost distraction, exposed to the shot and bomb-shells, which, bursting, tore in pieces every thing that stood in their way. As I led my wife, with a young child in her arms, and drove the rest of my children and servants half naked before me, those instruments of death and devastation fell about us like hail; but, by the mercy of God, we all escaped unhurt. Nothing could be more melancholy and affecting than a sight of the wretched people flying in crowds, and leaving their all behind, while they rent the sky with their lamentations. Many women of distinction I saw without shoes and stockings, and almost without clothes, who had been roused from their beds, and ran out naked into the streets. When my family had reached the open plain, I endeavoured to return, and save some of my effects; but I could not force my way through a multitude of people, thronging out at the gate, some sick and bed-ridden persons being carried on horseback and in carriages, and others conveyed on the backs of their friends, through a most dreadful scene of horror and desolation. A great number of families from the open country, and the defenceless towns in Prussia and Pomerania, had come hither for shelter with their most valuable effects, when the Russians first entered the king’s territories. These, as well as the inhabitants, are all ruined; and many, who a few days ago possessed considerable wealth, are now reduced to the utmost indigence. The neighbouring-towns and villages were soon crowded with the people of Custrin; the roads were filled with objects of misery; and nothing was seen but nakedness and despair; nothing heard but the cries of hunger, fear, and distraction. For my own part, I stayed all night at Goitz, and then proceeded for Berlin. Custrin is now a heap of ruins. The great magazine, the governor’s house, the church, the palace, the store and artillery-houses; in a word, the old and new towns, the suburbs, and all the bridges, were reduced to ashes; nay, after the ashes were destroyed, the piles and sterlings were burned to the water’s edge. The writings of all the colleges, together with the archives of the country, were totally consumed, together with a prodigious magazine of corn and flour, valued at four millions of crowns. The cannon in the arsenal were all melted; and the loaded bombs and cartridges, with a large quantity of gunpowder, went off at once with a most horrid explosion. A great number of the inhabitants are missing, supposed to have perished in the flames, or under the ruins of the houses, or to have been suffocated in the subterraneous vaults and caverns, to which they had fled for safety.
Nothing could be more inhuman, or contrary to the practice of a generous enemy, than such vengeance wreaked upon the innocent inhabitants; for the Russians did not begin to batter the fortifications until all the rest of the place was destroyed. In the course of this campaign, the Russian cossacks are said to have plundered and burned fourteen large towns and two hundred villages, and wantonly butchered above two thousand defenceless women and children. Such monsters of barbarity ought to be excluded from all the privileges of human nature, and hunted down as wild beasts without pity or cessation. What infamy ought these powers to incur, who employ and encourage such ruthless barbarians?]
[Footnote 468: Note 3 Q, p. 468. As very little notice was taken, in the detail published by authority, of any part which this great man acted in the battle of Hochkirchen, and a report was industriously circulated in this kingdom, that he was surprised in his tent, naked, and half asleep,--we think it the duty of a candid historian to vindicate his memory and reputation from the foul aspersion thrown by the perfidious and illiberal hand of envious malice, or else contrived to screen some other character from the imputation of misconduct. The task we are enabled to perform by a gentleman of candour and undoubted credit, who learned the following particulars at Berlin from a person that was eye-witness of the whole transaction. Field-mareschal Keith, who arrived in the camp the very day that preceded the battle, disapproved of the situation of the Prussian army, and remonstrated to the king on that subject. In consequence of his advice, a certain general was sent with a detachment to take possession of the heights that commanded the village of Hochkirchcn; but by some fatality he miscarried. Mareschal Keith was not in any tent, but lodged with prince Francis of Brunswick, in a house belonging to a Saxon major. When the first alarm was given in the night, he instantly mounted his horse, assembled a body of the nearest troops, and marched directly to the place that was attacked. The Austrians had taken possession of the hill which the Prussian officer was sent to occupy, and this they fortified with cannon; then they made themselves masters of the village in which the free companies of Auginelli had been posted. Mareschal Keith immediately conceived the design of the Austrian general, and knowing the importance of this place, thither directed all his efforts. He in person led on the troops to the attack of the village, from whence he drove the enemy; but being overpowered by numbers continually pouring down from the hills, he was obliged to retire in his turn. He rallied his men, returned to the charge, and regained possession of the place; being again repulsed by fresh reinforcements of the enemy, he made another effort, entered the village a third time, and finding it untenable, ordered it to be set on fire. Thus he kept the Austrians at bay, and maintained a desperate conflict against the flower of the Austrian army, from four in the morning till nine, when the Prussians were formed, and began to file off in their retreat. During the whole dispute he rallied the troops in person, charged at their head, and exposed his life in the hottest of a dreadful fire, like a private captain of grenadiers. He found it necessary to exert himself in this manner, the better to remove the bad effects of the confusion that prevailed, and in order to inspirit the troops to their utmost exertion by his voice, presence, and example. Even when dangerously wounded, at eight in the morning, he refused to quit the field; but continued to signalize himself in the midst of the carnage until nine, when he received a second shot in his breast, and fell speechless into the arms of Mr. Tibay, an English volunteer, who had attended him during the whole campaign. This gentleman, who was likewise wounded, applied to a Prussian officer for a file of men to remove the mareschal, being uncertain whether he was entirely deprived of life. His request was granted; but the soldiers, in advancing to the spot, were countermanded by another officer. He afterwards spoke on the same subject to one of the Prussian generals, a German prince, as he chanced to pass on horseback: when Mr. Tibay told him the field-mareschal was lying wounded on the field, he asked if his wounds were mortal; and the other answering he was afraid they were, the prince shrugged up his shoulders, and rode off without further question. The body of this great officer, being thus shamefully abandoned, was soon stripped by the Austrian stragglers, and lay exposed and undistinguished on the field of battle. In this situation it was perceived by count Lasci, son of the general of that name, with whom mareschal Keith had served in Russia. This young count had been the mareschal’s pupil, and revered him as his military father, though employed in the Austrian service. He recognised the body by the large scar of a dangerous wound, which general Keith had received in his thigh at the siege of Oczakow, and could not help bursting into tears to see his honoured master thus extended at his feet, a naked, lifeless, and deserted corpse. He forthwith caused his body to be covered and interred. It was afterwards taken up, and decently buried by the curate of Hochkirchen; and finally removed to Berlin, by order of the king of Prussia, who bestowed upon it those funeral honours that were due to the dignified rank and transcendent merit of the deceased; merit so universally acknowledged, that even the Saxons lamented him as their best friend and patron, who protected them from violence and outrage, even while he acted a principal part in subjecting them to the dominion of his sovereign.
[Footnote 479: Note 3 R, p. 479. Among other transactions that distinguish the history of Great Britain, scarce a year glides away without producing some incident that strongly marks the singular character of the English nation. A very extraordinary instance of this nature, relating to the late duke of Marlborough, we shall record among the events of this year, although it derived its origin from the latter end of the last, and cannot be properly enumerated among those occurrences that appertain to general history. Towards the end of November, in the preceding year, the above-mentioned nobleman received, by the post, a letter directed “To his Grace the duke of Marlborough, with care and speed,” and containing this address:
“My Lord,--As ceremony is an idle thing upon most occasions, more especially to persons in my state of mind, I shall proceed immediately to acquaint you with the motive and end of addressing this epistle to you, which is equally interesting to us both. You are to know, then, that my present situation in life is such, that I should prefer annihilation to a continuance in it. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies; and you are the man I have pitched upon, either to make me or unmake yourself. As I never had the honour to live among the great, the tenor of my proposals will not be very courtly; but let that be an argument to enforce a belief of what I am now going to write. It has employed my invention for some time, to find out a method of destroying another without exposing my own life: that I have accomplished, and defy the law. Now, for the application of it. I am desperate, and must be provided for. You have it in your power: it is my business to make it your inclination to serve me, which you must determine to comply with, by procuring me a genteel support for my life, or your own will be at a period before this session of parliament is over. I have more motives than one for singling you out upon this occasion; and I give you this fair warning, because the means I shall make use of are too fatal to be eluded by the power of physic. If you think this of any consequence, you will not fail to meet the author on Sunday next, at ten in the morning, or on Monday (if the weather should be rainy on Sunday), near the first tree beyond the stile in Hyde-Park, in the foot-walk to Kensington. Secrecy and compliance may preserve you from a double danger of this sort, as there is a certain part of the world where your death has more than been wished for upon other motives. I know the world too well to trust this secret in any breast but my own. A few days determine me your friend or enemy. “FELTON.
“You will apprehend that I mean you should be alone; and depend upon it, that a discovery of any artifice in this affair will be fatal to you. My safety is insured by my silence, for confession only can condemn me.”
The duke, in compliance with this strange remonstrance, appeared at the time and place appointed, on horseback and alone, with pistols before him, and the star of his order displayed, that he might be the more easily known. He had likewise taken the precaution of engaging a friend to attend in the Park, at such a distance, however, as scarce to be observable. He continued some time on the spot without seeing any person he could suspect of having wrote the letter, and then rode away: but chancing to turn his head when he reached Hyde-Park-Corner, he perceived a man standing at the bridge, and looking at the water, within twenty yards of the tree which was described in the letter. He forthwith rode back at a gentle pace, and, passing by the person, expected to be addressed: but as no advance of this kind was made, he, in repassing, bowed to the stranger, and asked if he had not something to communicate? The man replying, “No, I don’t know you;” the duke told him his name, adding, “Now you know me, I imagine you have something to say to me.” But he still answered in the negative, and the duke rode home. In a day or two after this transaction, another letter was brought to him, couched in the following terms:
“My Lord,--You receive this as an acknowledgment of your punctuality as to the time and place of meeting on Sunday last, though it was owing to you it answered no purpose. The pageantry of being armed, and the ensign of your order, were useless and too conspicuous. You needed no attendant, the place was not calculated for mischief, nor was any intended. If you walk in the west aisle of Westminster Abbey, towards eleven o’clock on Sunday next, your sagacity will point the person whom you will address, by asking his company to take a turn or two with you. You will not fail, on inquiry, to be acquainted with the name and place of abode. According to which direction you will please to send two or three hundred pound bank-notes the next day by the penny post. Exert not your curiosity too early; it is in your power to make me grateful on certain terms. I have friends who are faithful, but they do not bark before they bite.--“I am, &c, F.”
The duke, determining if possible to unveil this mystery, repaired to the Abbey at the time prescribed; and, after having walked up and down for five or six minutes, saw the very same person to whom he had spoken in Hyde-Park, enter the Abbey with another man of a creditable appearance. This last, after they had viewed some of the monuments, went into the choir, and the other turning back advanced towards the duke, who, accosting him, asked him if he had anything to say to him,” or any commands for him? He replied, “No, my lord. I have not.”--“Sure you have,” said the duke; but he persisted in his denial. Then the duke, leaving him, took several turns in the aisle, while the stranger walked on the other side. But nothing further passed between them; and although the duke had provided several persons in disguise to apprehend the delinquent, he forebore giving the signal, that, notwithstanding appearances, he might run no risk of injuring an innocent person. Not long after this second disappointment he received a third letter, to the following effect:
“My Lord,--I am fully convinced you had a companion on Sunday: I interpret it as owing to the weakness of human nature; but such proceeding is far from being ingenuous, and may produce bad effects, whilst it is impossible to answer the end proposed. You will see me again soon, as it were by accident, and may easily find where I go to; in consequence of which, by being sent to, I shall wait on your grace, but expect to be quite alone, and to converse in whispers; you will likewise give your honour, upon meeting, that no part of the conversation shall transpire. These and the former terms complied with ensure your safety; my revenge, in case of non-compliance (or any scheme to expose me), will be slower, but not less sure; and strong suspicion the utmost that can possibly ensue upon it, while the chances would be tenfold against you. You will possibly be in doubt after the meeting, but it is quite necessary the outside should be a mask to the in. The family of the Bloods is not extinct, though they are not in my scheme.”
The expression, “You will see me again soon, as it were by accident,” plainly pointed at the person to whom he had spoke in the park and in the Abbey; nevertheless, he saw him not again, nor did he hear anything further of the affair for two months, at the expiration of which the post brought him the following letter:
“May it please your Grace,--I have reason to believe, that the son of one Barnard, a surveyor, in Abingdon-buildings, Westminster, is acquainted with some secrets that nearly concern your safety: his father is now out of town, which will give you an opportunity of questioning him more privately; it would be useless to your grace, as well as dangerous to me, to appear more publicly in this affair. “Your sincere friend, “ANONYMOUS. “He frequently goes to Storey’s-gate coffee-house.”
In about a week after this intimation was received, the duke sent a person to the coffee-house, to inquire for Mr. Barnard, and tell him he would be glad to speak to him. The message was delivered, and Barnard declared he would wait upon his grace next Thursday, at half an hour after ten in the morning. He was punctual to his appointment, and no sooner appeared than the duke recognised him to be the person to whom he had spoke in the Park and the Abbey. Having conducted him into an apartment, and shut the door, he asked, as before, if he had anything to communicate: and was answered, as formerly, in the negative. Then the duke repeated every circumstance of this strange transaction; to which Barnard listened with attention and surprise, yet without exhibiting any marks of conscious guilt or confusion. The duke observing that it was matter of astonishment to see letters of such import written with the correctness of a scholar; the other replied, that a man might be very poor and very learned at the same time. When he saw the fourth letter, in which his name was mentioned, with the circumstance of his father’s absence, he said, “If is very odd, my father was then out of town.” An expression the more remarkable, as the letter was without date, and he could not, as an innocent man, be supposed to know at what time it was written. The duke having made him acquainted with the particulars, told him, that if he was innocent he ought to use his endeavours-to detect the writer of the letters, especially of the last, in which he was expressely named. To this admonition he returned no other answer but a smile, and then withdrew.--He was afterwards taken into custody, and tried at the Old Bailey,for sending a threatening letter, contrary to the statute; but no evidence could be found to prove the letters were of his handwriting: nor did any presumption appear against him, except his being in Hyde-Park, and in Westminster Abbey, at the time and place appointed in the first two letters. On the other hand, Mr. Barnard proved, that, on the Sunday when he saw the duke in Hyde-Park, he was on his way to Kensington on particular business, by his father’s order, signified to him that very morning: that he accordingly went thither, and dined with his uncle, in company with several other persons, to whom he related what had passed between the duke of Marlborough and him in the Park: that his being afterwards in Westminster Abbey was the effect of mere accident: that Mr. James Greenwood, his kinsman, who had lain that preceding night at his father’s house, desired him to dress himself, that they might walk together in the Park; and he did not comply with his request till after much solicitation: that he proposed to enter the Park without passing through the Abbey, but was prevailed upon by Mr. Greenwood, who expressed a desire of seeing the newly-erected monument of general Hardgrave: that as he had formerly communicated to his friend the strange circumstance of the duke’s speaking to him in Hyde-park, Mr. Greenwood no sooner saw that nobleman in the Abbey, than he gave notice to Mr. Barnard, who was very short-sighted; and that from his passing them several times, concluding he wanted to speak with Mr. Barnard alone, he quitted him and retired into the choir, that they might commune together without interruption. It likewise appeared, from undoubted evidence, that Barnard had often mentioned openly to his friends and acquaintance, the circumstance of what passed between him and the duke in the Park and in the Abbey; that his father was a man of unblemished reputation, and in affluent circumstances; that he himself was never reduced to any want, or such exigence as might impel him to any desperate methods of obtaining money; that his fidelity had been often tried, and his life always irreproachable. For these reasons he was acquitted of the crime laid to his charge, and the mystery remains to this day undiscovered.
After all, the author of the letters does not seem to have had any real design to extort money, because the scheme was very ill calculated for that purpose; and indeed could not possibly take effect without the most imminent risk of detection. Perhaps his aim was nothing more than to gratify a petulance and peculiarity of humour, by alarming the duke, exciting the curiosity of the public, puzzling the multitude, and giving rise to a thousand ridiculous conjectures. If anything more was intended, and the duke earnestly desired to know the extent of the scheme, he might, when he closeted the person suspected, have encouraged him to a declaration, by promising inviolable secrecy on his word and honour, in which any man would have confided as a sacred obligation. On the whole, it is surprising that the death of the duke, which happened in the course of this year, was never attributed to the secret practices of this incendiary correspondent, who had given him to understand that his vengeance, though slow, would not be the less certain.]
Footnote 485: Note 3 S, p. 485. The next bill that fell under the cognizance of the house, related to a law transaction, and was suggested by a petition presented in the name of the sheriffs, and grantees of post-fines under the crown of England. They enumerated and explained the difficulties under which they laboured, in raising and collecting these fines within the respective counties; particularly when the estate conveyed by fine was no more than a right of reversion, in which case they could not possibly levy the post-fine, unless the purchaser should obtain possession within the term of the sheriffalty, or pay it of his own free will, as they could not distrain while the lands were in possession of the donee. They therefore proposed a method for raising these post-fines, by a proper officer to be appointed for that purpose; and prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill accordingly. This petition was seconded by a message from the king, importing, that his majesty, as far as his interest was concerned, gave his consent that the house might act in this affair as they should think propel.
The commons, in a committee of the whole house, having taken into consideration the merits of the petition, formed several resolutions; upon which a bill was founded for the more regular and easy collecting, accounting for, and paying of post-fines, which should be due to the crown, or to the grantees thereof under the crown, and for the ease of sheriffs in respect to the same. Before it passed into a law, however, it was opposed by a petition in favour of one William Daw, a lunatic, clerk of the king’s silver office, alleging, that should the bill pass, it would deprive the said Daw and his successors of an ancient fee belonging to his office, on searches made for post-fines by the under sheriffs of the several counties; therefore, praying that such provision might be made for the said lunatic as to the house should seem just and reasonable. This, and divers other petitions respecting the bill being discussed in the committee, it underwent several amendments, and was enacted into a law; the particulars of which cannot be properly understood without a previous explanation of this method of conveying estates; a subject obscure in itself, founded upon a seeming subterfuge of law, scarce reconcileable with the dictates of common sense, and consequently improper for the pen of an historian.]
[Footnote 490: Note 3 T, p. 490. As the curiosity of the reader may be interested in these resolutions, we shall here insert them for his satisfaction. The committee resolved, that the ell ought to contain one yard and one quarter, according to the yard mentioned in the third resolution of the former committee upon the subject of weights and measures; that the pole, or perch, should contain in length five such yards and a half; the furlong two hundred and twenty; and the mile one thousand seven hundred and sixty: that the superficial perch should contain thirty square yards and a quarter; the rood one thousand two hundred and ten; and the acre four thousand eight hundred and forty: that according to the fourth, fifth, and sixth resolutions of the former committee, upon the subject of weights and measures, agreed to by the house on the second day of June in the preceding year, the quart ought to contain seventy cubical inches and one half; the pint thirty-five and one quarter; the peck five hundred and sixty-four; and the bushel two thousand two hundred and fifty-six. That the several parts of the pound, mentioned in the eighth resolution of the former committee, examined and adjusted in presence of this committee,--viz. the half pound or six ounces, quarter of a pound or three ounces, two ounces, one ounce, two half ounces, the five-penny weight, three-penny weight, two-penny weight, and one-penny weight, the twelve grains, six grains, three grains, two grains, and two of one grain each,--ought to be the models of the several parts of the said pound, and to be used for sizing or adjusting weights for the future. That all weights exceeding a pound should be of brass, copper, bell-metal, or cast-iron; and all those of cast-iron should be made in the form, and with a handle of hammered iron, such as the pattern herewith produced, having the mark of the weight cast in the iron; and all the weights of a pound, or under, should be of gold, silver, brass, copper, or bell-metal. That all weights of cast-iron should have the initial letters of the name of the maker upon the upper bar of the handle; and all other weights should have the same, together with the mark of the weight, according to this standard, upon some convenient part thereof. That the yard, mentioned in the second resolution of the former committee upon the subject of weights and measures, agreed to by the house in the last session, being the standard of length, and the pound mentioned in the eighth resolution, being the standard of weight, ought to be deposited in the court of the receipt of the exchequer, and the chief baron, and the seal of office of the chamberlain of the exchequer, and not to be opened but by the order and in the presence of the chancellor of the exchequer and chief baron for the time being. That the most effectual means to ascertain uniformity in measures of length and weight, to be used throughout the realm, would he to appoint certain persons, at one
## particular office, with clerks and workmen under them, for the purpose
only of fixing and adjusting, for the use of the subjects, all measures of length, and all weights, being parts, multiples, or certain proportions of the standards to be used for the future. That a model or pattern of the said standard yard, mentioned in the second resolution of the former committee, and now in the custody of the clerk of the house, and a model or pattern of the standard pound, mentioned in the eighth resolution of that committee, together with models or patterns of the parts of the said pound now presented to the house, and also of the multiples of the said pound, mentioned in this report (when the same are adjusted), should be kept in the said office, in custody of the said persons to be appointed for sizing weights and measures, under the seal of the chief baron of the exchequer for the time being; to be opened only by order of the said chief baron, in his presence, or the presence of one of the barons of the exchequer, on the application of the said persons, for the purpose of correcting and adjusting, as occasion should require, the patterns or models used at the said office, for sizing measures of length and weight delivered out to the subjects. That models or patterns of the said standard yard and standard pound aforesaid, and also models or patterns of the parts and multiples aforesaid of the said pound, should be lodged in the said office for the sizing of such measures of length or weight, as, being parts, multiples, or proportions of the said standards, should hereafter he required by any of his majesty’s subjects. That all measures of length and weight, sized at the said office, should be marked in some convenient part thereof, with such marks as should be thought expedient, to show the identity of the measures and weights sized at the said office, and to discover any frauds that may be committed therein. That the said office should he kept within a convenient distance of the court of exchequer at Westminster; and all the measures of length and weight, within a certain distance of London, should be corrected and re-assized, as occasion should require, at the said office. That, in order to enforce the uniformity in weights and measures to be used for the future, all persons appointed by the crown to act as justices of the peace in any county, city, or town corporate, being respectively counties within themselves, throughout the realm, should be empowered to hear and determine, and put the law in execution, in respect to weights and measures only, without any of them being obliged to sue out a _dedimus_, or to act in any other matter; and the said commissioners should be empowered to sue, imprison, inflict, or mitigate such penalties as should be thought proper; and have such other authorities as should be necessary for compelling the use of weights and measures, agreeably to the aforesaid standards. The models or patterns of the said standard yard and pound, and of the parts and multiples thereof, before-mentioned, should be distributed in each county, in such a manner as to be readily used for evidence in all eases where measures and weights should be questioned before the said commissioners, and for adjusting the same in a proper manner.]
[Footnote 504: Note 3 U, p. 504. The letter was to this effect: _To their excellencies Messrs. Hopson and Moore, general officers of his Britannic Majesty at Basseterre._ “Gentlemen--I have received the letter which your excellencies have done me the honour to write, of the twenty-fifth. You make me proposals which could arise from nothing but the facility with which you have got possession of the little town and citadel of Basseterre; for otherwise you ought to do me the justice to believe they could not be received. You have strength sufficient to subdue the exteriors of the island; but with respect to the interiors, the match between us is equal. As to the consequences that may attend my refusal, I am persuaded they will be no other than such as are prescribed by the laws of war. Should we be disappointed in this
## particular, we have a master powerful enough to revenge any injury
we may sustain. “I am, with respect, “Gentlemen, “Your most obedient servant, “Nadau D’Etreil.” It is pretty remarkable, that the apprehension of cruel usage from the English, who are undoubtedly the most generous and humane enemies under the sun, not only prevailed among the common French soldiery throughout this whole war, but even infected officers of distinction, who ought to have been exempted from these prejudices, by a better acquaintance with life, and more liberal turn of thinking.]
[Footnote 505: Note 3 X, p. 505. The reasons assigned by the commodore for his conduct in this particular are these:--The bay of Dominique was the only place in which he could rendezvous and unite his squadron. Here he refreshed his men, who were grown sickly in consequence of subsisting on salt provisions. Here he supplied his ships with plenty of fresh water. Here he had intercourse once or twice every day with general Barrington, by means of small vessels which passed and repassed from one island to the other. By remaining in this situation, he likewise maintained a communication with the English Leeward Islands, which being in a defenceless condition, their inhabitants were constantly soliciting the commodore’s protection; and here he supported the army, the commander of which was unwilling that he should remove to a greater distance. Had he sailed to Port-Royal, he would have found the enemy’s squadron so disposed, that he could not have attacked them, unless M. de Bompart had been inclined to hazard an action. Had he anchored in the bay, all his cruisers must have been employed in conveying provisions and stores to the squadron. There he could not have procured either fresh provisions or water; nor could he have had any communication with, or intelligence from, the army in the Leeward Islands, in less than eight or ten days.]
[Footnote 511: Note 3 Y, p. 511. The following anecdote is so remarkable, and tends so much to the honour of the British soldiery, that we insert it without fear of the reader’s disapprobation:--Captain Ochterlony and ensign Peyton belonged to the regiment of brigadier-general Mouckton. They were nearly of an age, which did not exceed thirty: the first was a North Briton, the other a native of Ireland. Both were agreeable in person, and unblemished in character, and connected together by the ties of mutual friendship and esteem. On the day that preceded the battle, captain Ochterlony had been obliged to fight a duel with a German officer, in which, though he wounded and disarmed his antagonist, yet he himself received a dangerous hurt under the right arm, in consequence of which his friends insisted on his remaining in camp during the action of the next day, but his spirit was too great to comply with this remonstrance. He declared it should never be said that a scratch, received in a private rencounter, had prevented him from doing his duty, when his country required his service; and he took the field with a fusil in his hand, though he was hardly able to carry his arms. In leading up his men to the enemy’s intrenchment, he was shot through the lungs with a musquet ball, an accident which obliged him to part with his fusil: but he still continued advancing; until, by the loss of blood, he became too weak to proceed farther. About the same time Mr. Peyton was lamed by a shot, which shattered the small hone of his left leg. The soldiers, in their retreat, earnestly begged, with tears in their eyes, that captain Ochterlony would allow them to carry him and the ensign off the field. But he was so bigoted to a severe point of honour, that he would not quit the ground, though he desired they would take care of his ensign. Mr. Peyton, with a generous disdain, rejected their good offices, declaring, that he would not leave his captain in such a situation; and in a little time they remained the sole survivors of that part of the field.
Captain Ochterlony sat down by his friend; and, as they expected nothing but immediate death, they took leave of each other. Yet they were not altogether abandoned by the hope of being protected as prisoners: for the captain, seeing a French soldier with two Indians approach, started up, and accosting them in the French language, which he spoke perfectly well, expressed his expectation that they would treat him and his companion as officers, prisoners, and gentlemen. The two Indians seemed to be entirely under the conduct of the Frenchman, who coming up to Mr. Peyton, as he sat on the ground, snatched his laced hat from his head, and robbed the captain of his watch and money. This outrage was a signal to the Indians for murder and pillage. One of them, clubbing his firelock, struck at him behind, with a view to knock him down; but the blow missing his head, took place upon his shoulder. At the same instant the other Indian poured his shot into the breast of this unfortunate young gentleman; who cried out, “Oh, Peyton, the villain has shot me.” Not yet satisfied with cruelty, the barbarian sprung upon him, and stabbed him in the belly with his scalping-knife. The captain having parted with his fusil, had no weapon for his defence, as none of the officers wore swords in the action. The three ruffians, finding him still alive, endeavoured to strangle him with his own sash; and he was now upon his knees, struggling against them with surprising exertion. Mr. Peyton, at this juncture, having a double-barrelled musket in his hand, and seeing the distress of his friend, fired at one of the Indians, who dropped dead upon the spot. The other thinking the ensign would now be an easy prey, advanced towards him; and Mr. Peyton, having taken good aim at the distance of four yards, discharged his piece the second time, but it seemed to take no effect. The savage fired in his turn, and wounded the ensign in his shoulder; then, rushing upon him, thrust his bayonet through his body. He repeated the blow, which Mr. Peyton attempting to parry, received another wound in his left hand: nevertheless, he seized the Indian’s musket with the same hand, pulled him forwards, and with his right drawing a dagger which hung by his side, plunged it in the barbarian’s side. A violent struggle ensued: but at length Mr. Peyton was uppermost; and, with repeated strokes of his dagger, killed his antagonist outright. Here he was seized with an unaccountable emotion of curiosity, to know whether his shot had taken place on the body of the Indian: he accordingly turned him up; and, stripping off his blanket, perceived that the ball had penetrated quite through the cavity of the breast. Having thus obtained a dear-bought victory, he started up on one leg; and saw captain Ochterlony standing at the distance of sixty yards, close by the enemy’s breastwork, with the French soldier attending him. Mr. Peyton then called aloud,--“Captain Ochterlony, I am glad to see you have at last got under protection. Beware of that villain, who is more barbarous than the savages. God bless you, my dear captain! I see a party of Indians coming this way, and expect to be murdered immediately.” A number of those barbarians had for some time been employed on the left, in scalping and pillaging the dying and the dead that were left upon the field of battle; and above thirty of them were in full march to destroy Mr. Peyton. This gentleman knew he had no mercy to expect; for, should his life be spared for the present, they would have afterwards insisted upon sacrificing him to the manes of their brethren whom he had slain; and in that case he would have been put to death by the most excruciating tortures. Full of this idea, he snatched up his musket, and, notwithstanding his broken leg, ran about forty yards without halting: feeling himself now totally disabled, and incapable of proceeding one step farther, he loaded his piece, and presented it to the two foremost Indians, who stood aloof, waiting to be joined by their fellows; while the French, from their breastworks, kept up a continual fire of cannon and small arms upon this poor solitary and maimed gentleman. In this uncomfortable situation he stood, when he discerned at a distance a Highland officer, with a party of his men, skirting the plain towards the field of battle. He forthwith waved his hand in signal of distress, and being perceived by the officer, he detached three of his men to his assistance. These brave fellows hastened to him through the midst of a terrible fire, and one of them bore him off on his shoulders. The Highland officer was captain Macdonald of colonel Frasor’s battalion; who, understanding that a young gentleman, his kinsman, had dropped on the field of battle, had put himself at the head of this party, with which he penetrated to the middle of the field, drove a considerable number of the French and Indians before him, and finding his relation still unscalped, carried him off in triumph. Poor captain Ochterlony was conveyed to Quebec, where in a few days he died of his wounds. After the reduction of that place, the French surgeons who attended him declared, that in all probability he would have recovered of the two shots he had received in his breast, had he not been mortally wounded in the belly by the Indian’s scalping-knife.
As this very remarkable scene was acted in sight of both armies, general Townshend, in the sequel, expostulated with the French officers upon the inhumanity of keeping up such a severe fire against two wounded gentlemen who were disabled, and destitute of all hope of escaping. They answered that the fire was not made by the regulars, but by the Canadians and savages, whom it was not in the power of discipline to restrain.]
[Footnote 513: Note 3 Z, p. 513. How far the success of this attempt depended upon accident, may be conceived from the following
## particulars:--In the twilight, two French deserters were carried on
board a ship of war, commanded by captain Smith, and lying at anchor near the north shore. They told him that the garrison of Quebec expected that night to receive a convoy of provisions, sent down the river in boats from the detachment above, commanded by M. de Bouganville. These deserters, standing upon deck, and perceiving the English boats with the troops gliding down the river in the dark, began to shout and make a noise, declaring they were part of the expected convoy, captain Smith, who was ignorant of general Wolfe’s design, believing their affirmation, had actually given orders to point the guns at the British troops; when the general, perceiving a commotion on board, rowed alongside in person and prevented the discharge, which would have alarmed the town, and entirely frustrated the attempt.
The French had posted sentries along shore, to challenge boats and vessels, and give the alarm occasionally. The first boat that contained the English troops being questioned accordingly, a captain of Eraser’s regiment, who had served in Holland, and who was perfectly well acquainted with the French language and customs, answered without hesitation to _Qui vit?_ which is their challenging word, _La France_: nor was he at a loss to answer the second question, which was much more
## particular and difficult. When the sentinel demanded _a quell regiment?_
to what regiment? the captain replied, _De la Reine_; which he knew, by accident, to be one of those that composed the body commanded by Bougainville. The soldier took it for granted this was the expected convoy; and saying _Passe_, allowed all the boats to proceed without further question. In the same manner the other sentries were deceived; though one, more wary than the rest, came running down to the water’s edge, and called, “_Pourquoi est ce que vous ne parlez plus haut?_ Why don’t you speak with an audible voice?” To this interrogation, which implied doubt, the captain answered, with admirable presence of mind, in a soft tone of voice, “_Tai toi! nous serons entendues!_Hush! we shall be overheard and discovered!” Thus cautioned, the sentry retired without further altercation. The midshipman who piloted the first boat, passing by the landing place in the dark, the same captain, who knew it from his having been posted formerly with his company on the other side of the river, insisted on the pilot’s being mistaken; and commanded the rowers to put ashore in the proper place, or at least very near it.
When general Wolfe landed, and saw the difficulty of ascending the precipice, he said to the same officer in a familiar strain, “I don’t believe there is any possibility of getting up; but you must do your endeavour.” The narrow path that slanted up the hill from the landing place the enemy had broken up, and rendered impassible by cross ditches, besides the intrenchment at the top: in every other part the hill was so steep and dangerous, that the soldiers were obliged to pull themselves up by the roots and boughs of trees growing on both sides of the path.]
[Footnote 515: Note 4 A, p. 515 The chagrin and mortification of Lally are strongly marked in the following intercepted letter to M. de Legret, dated from the camp before Madras:--
“A good blow might be struck here: there is a ship in the road, of twenty guns, laden with all the riches of Madras, which it is said will remain there till the 20th. The expedition is just arrived, but M. Gerlin is not a man to attack her; for she has made him run away once before. The Bristol, on the other hand, did but just make her appearance before St. Thomas; and, on the vague report of thirteen ships coming from Porto-Novo, she took fright; and, after landing the provisions with which she was laden, she would not stay long enough even to take on board twelve of her own guns, which she had lent us for the siege.
“If I was the judge of the point of honour of the company’s officers, I would break him like glass, as well as some others of them.
“The Fidelle, or the Harlem, or even the aforesaid Bristol, with her twelve guns restored to her, would be sufficient to make themselves masters of the English ship, if they could manage so as to get to windward of her in the night. Maugendre and Tremillier are said to be good men; and were they employed only to transport two hundred wounded men that we have here, their service would be of importance.
“We remain still in the same position: the breach made these fifteen clays, all the time within fifty toises of the wall of the place, and never holding up our heads to look at it.
“I reckon we shall, on our arrival at Pondieherry, endeavour to learn some other trade, for this of war requires too much patience.
“Of one thousand five hundred sepoys which attended our army, I reckon near eight hundred are employed upon the road to Pondieherry, laden with sugar, pepper, and other goods; and as for the coulis, they are all employed for the same purpose, from the first day we came here.
“I am taking my measures from this day to set fire to the Black-town, and to blow up the powder-mills.
“You will never imagine that fifty French deserters, and one hundred Swiss, are actually stopping the progress of two thousand men of the king and company’s troops, which are still here existing, notwithstanding the exaggerated accounts that every one makes here according to his own fancy, of the slaughter that has been made of them; and you will be still more surprised if I tell you, that, were it not lor the combats and four battles we sustained, and for the batteries which failed, or, to speak more properly, which were unskilfully made, we should not have lost fifty men, from the commencement of the siege to this day. I have written to M. de Larche, that if he persists in not coming here, let who will raise money upon the Poleagers for me, I will not do it; and I renounce (as I informed you a month ago I would do) meddling directly or indirectly with any thing whatever that may have relation to your administration, whether civil or military. For I had rather go and command the Caffrees of Madagascar than remain in this Sodom, which it is impossible but the fire of the English must destroy sooner or later, even though that from heaven should not. “I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) “LALLY.”
“P. S.--I think it necessary to apprize you, that as M. de Soupire has refused to take upon him the command of this army, which I have offered to him, and which he is empowered to accept, by having received from the court a duplicate of my commission, you must of necessity, together with the council, take it upon you. For my part, I undertake only to bring it back either to Arcot or Sadraste. Send, therefore, your orders, or come yourselves to command it; for I shall quit it upon my arrival there.”]
[Footnote 521: Note 4 B, p. 521. That the general was not pleased with the behaviour of lord George Sackville, may be gathered from the following compliment to the marquis of Granby, implying a severe reflection upon his superior in command.
_Orders of his serene highness prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, relative to the behaviour of the troops under him, at the famous battle near Minden, on the first of August, 1759._
“His serene highness ordered his greatest thanks to be given to the whole army, for their bravery and good behaviour yesterday, particularly to the English infantry, and the two battalions of Hanoverian guards; to all the cavalry of the left wing; and to general Wan-genheim’s corps, particularly the regiment of Holstein, the Hessian cavalry, the Hanoverian regiment du corps, and Hammerstin’s; the same to all the brigades of heavy artillery. His serene highness declares publicly, that, next to God, he attributes the glory of the day to the intrepidity and extraordinary good behaviour of these troops, which he assures them he shall retain the strongest sense of as long as he lives; and if ever, upon any occasion, he shall be able to serve these brave troops, or any of them in particular, it will give him the utmost pleasure. His serene highness orders his particular thanks to be likewise given to general Sporeken, the duke of Holstein, lieutenant-generals Imhoff and Urf. His serene highness is extremely obliged to the count de Buckebourg, for his extraordinary care and trouble in the management of the artillery, which was served with great effect: likewise to the commanding officers of the several brigades of artillery, viz. colonel Browne, lieutenant-colonel Hutte, Major Hasse, and the three English captains, Philips, Drummond, and Foy. His serene highness thinks himself infinitely obliged to major-generals Waldegrave and Kingsley, for their great courage, and the good order in which they conducted their brigades. His serene highness further orders it to be declared to lieutenant-general the marquis of Grandby, that he is persuaded that, if he had had the good fortune to have had him at the head of the cavalry of the right wing, his presence would have greatly contributed to make the decision of that day more complete and more brilliant. In short, his serene highness orders that those of his suite whose behaviour he most admired be named, as the duke of Richmond, colonel Fitzroy, captain Ligonier, colonel Watson, captain Wilson, aidecamp to major-general Waldegrave, adjutant, generals Erstorff, Bulow, Durendolle, the counts Tobe and Malerti; his serene highness having much reason tobe satisfied with their conduct. And his serene highness desires and orders the generals of the army, that upon all occasions when orders are brought to them by his aids-de-camp, that they may be obeyed punctually, and without delay.”]
[Footnote 522: Note 4 C, p. 522. The following extracts of letters from the duke de Belleisle to the mareschal de Contades, will convey some idea of the virtue, policy, and necessities of the French ministry:--
“I am still afraid that Fischer sets out too late: it is, however, very important, and very essential, that we should raise large contributions. I see no other resource for our most urgent expenses, and for refitting the troops, but in the money we may draw from the enemy’s country, from whence we must likewise procure subsistence of all kinds (independently of the money), that is to say, hay, straw, oats for the winter, bread, corn, cattle, horses, even men to recruit our foreign troops. The war must not be prolonged; and perhaps it may be necessary, according to the events which may happen between this time and the end of September, to make a downright desert before the line of the quarters which it may be thought proper to keep during the winter, in order that the enemy may be under a real impossibility of approaching us: at the same time reserving for ourselves a bare subsistence on the route which may be the most convenient for us to take, in the middle of winter, to beat up or seize upon the enemy’s quarters. That this object may be fulfilled, I cause the greatest assiduity to be used in preparing what is necessary for having all your troops, without exception, well clothed, well armed, well equipped, and well refitted, in every respect, before the end of November, with new tents; in order that, if it should be advisable for the king’s political and military affairs, you may be able to assemble the whole or part of your army, to act offensively and with vigour, from the beginning of January; and that you may have the satisfaction to show your enemies and all Europe, that the French know how to act and carry on war in all seasons, when they have such a general as you are, and a minister of the department of war that can foresee and concert matters with the general.
“You must be sensible, sir, that what I say to you may become not only useful and honourable, but perhaps even necessary, with respect to what you know, and of which I shall say no more in a private letter.
“M. duc de BELLEISLE.”
“After observing all the formalities due to the magistrates of Cologne, you must seize on their great artillery by force, telling them that you do so for their own defence against the common enemy of the empire; that you will restore them when their city has nothing further to fear, &c. After all, you must take everything you have occasion for, and give them receipts for it.--
“You must, at any rate, consume all sorts of subsistence on the higher Lippe, Paderborn, and Warsburg; you must destroy everything which you cannot consume, so as to make a desert of all Westphalia, from Lipstadt and Munster, as far as the Rhine, on one hand: and on the other, from the higher Lippe and Paderborn, as far as Cassel; that the enemy may find it quite impracticable to direct their march to the Rhine, or the lower Roer; and this with regard to your army, and with regard to the army under M. de Soubise, that they may not have it in their power to take possession of Cassel, and much less to march to Marburg, or to the quarters which he will have along the Lahn, or to those which you will occupy, from the lower part of the left side of the Roer, and on the right side of the Rhine, as far as Dusseldorp, and at Cologne.”--
“You know the necessity of consuming or destroying, as far as is possible, all the subsistence, especially the forage betwixt the Weser and the Rhine on the one hand, and on the other betwixt the Lippe, the bishopric of Paderborn, the Dymel, the Fulda, and the Nerra; and so to make a desert of Westphalia and Hesse.”--
“Although the prince of Waldeck appears outwardly neutral, he is very ill-disposed, and deserves very little favour. You ought, therefore, to make no scruple of taking all you find in that territory: but this must be done in an orderly manner, giving receipts, and observing the most exact discipline. All the subsistence you leave in this country will fall to the enemy’s share, who will, by that means, be enabled to advance to the Lahn, and towards the quarters which you are to occupy on the left side of the Roer. It is therefore a precaution become in a manner indispensably necessary, to carry it all away from thence.”--
“The question now is, what plan you shall think most proper for accomplishing, in the quickest and surest manner, our great purpose: which must be to consume, carry off, or destroy, all the forage and subsistence of the country which we cannot keep possession of.”--
“The upper part of the Lippe, and the country of Paderborn, are the most plentiful; they must therefore be eat to the very roots.”.....
“You did mighty well to talk in the most absolute tone with regard to the necessaries Racroth and Duysbourg must furnish our troops: it is necessary to speak in that tone to Germans; and you will find your account in using the same to the regencies of the elector of Cologne, and still more to that of the palatine.
“After using all becoming ceremony, as we have the power in our hands, we must make use of it, and draw from the country of Bergue what shall be necessary for the subsistence of the garrison of Dusseldorp, and of the light troops, and reserve what may be brought thither from Alsace and the bishoprics for a case of necessity.”]
[Footnote 523: Note 4 D, p. 523. _The following declarations were published by count Dohna, the Prussian general, on his entering Poland with a body of Prussian troops._
_On the 15th of June._
His Prussian majesty, finding himself under a necessity to cause part of his armies to enter the territories of the republic of Poland, in order to protect them against the threatened invasion of the enemy; declares that,--
It must not be understood that his majesty, by this step taken, intends to make any breach in the regard he has always had for the illustrious republic of Poland, or to lessen the good understanding which has hitherto subsisted between them: but, on the contrary, to strengthen the same, in expectation that the illustrious republic will on its part act with the like neighbourly and friendly good-will as is granted to the enemy, than which nothing more is desired.
The nobility, gentry, and magistracy, in their respective districts, between the frontiers of Prussia, so far as beyond Posen, are required to furnish all kinds of provisions, corn, and forage necessary to support an army of 40,000 men, with the utmost despatch, with an assurance of being paid ready money for the same. But if, contrary to expectation, any deficiency should happen in supplying this demand, his majesty’s troops will be obliged to forage, and use the same means as those taken by the enemy for their subsistence.
In confidence, therefore, that the several jurisdictions upon the Prussian frontiers, within the territories of Poland, will exert themselves to comply with this demand as soon as possible, for the subsistence of the royal army of Prussia, they are assured that thereby all disorders will be prevented, and whatever is delivered will be paid for in ready money.
_On the 17th of June._ It was with the greatest astonishment that the king, my most gracious lord and master, heard that several of his own subjects had suffered themselves to be seduced from their allegiance, so far as to enter into the service of a potentate with whom he is at war; his majesty, therefore, makes known by these presents, that all of his subjects serving in the enemy’s armies, who shall be taken with arms in their hands, shall, agreeable to all laws, be sentenced to be hanged without mercy, as traitors to their king and country, of which all whom it may concern are desired to take notice, &c.
_On the 22nd of June._ We invite and desire that the nobility, archbishops, bishops, abbeys, convents, seignories, magistrates, and inhabitants of the republic of Poland, on the road to Posnania, and beyond it, would repair in person or by deputies, in the course of this week, or as soon after as possible, to the Prussian head-quarters, there to treat with the commander-in-chief, or the commissary at war, for the delivery of forage and provisions for the subsistence of the army, to be paid for with ready money.
We promise and assure ourselves that no person in Poland will attempt to seduce the Prussian troops to desert; that no assistance will be given them in such perfidious practices; that they will neither be sheltered, concealed, nor lodged; which would be followed by very disagreeable consequences: we expect, on the contrary, that persons of all ranks and conditions will stop any runaway or deserter, and deliver him up at the first advanced post, or at the head-quarters; and all expenses attending the same shall be paid, and a reasonable gratification superadded.
If any one hath inclination to enter into the king of Prussia’s service, with an intention to behave well and faithfully, he may apply to the head-quarters, and be assured of a capitulation for three or four years.
If any prince or member of the republic of Poland be disposed to assemble a body of men, and to join in a troop or in a company of the Prussian army, to make a common cause with it, he may depend on a gracious reception, and that due regard will be shown to his merit, &c.]
[Footnote 526: Note 4 E, p. 526. The obstinacy of the powers in opposition to Great Britain and Prussia appeared still more remarkable in their slighting the following declaration, which duke Louis of Brunswick delivered to their ministers at the Hague, in the month of December, after Quebec was reduced, and the fleet of France totally defeated:
“Their Britannic and Prussian majesties, moved with compassion at the mischief which the war that has been kindled for some years has already occasioned, and must necessarily produce, would think themselves wanting to the duties of humanity, and particularly to their tender concern for the preservation and well-being of their respective kingdoms and subjects, if they neglected the proper means to put a stop to the progress of so severe a calamity, and to contribute to the re-establishment of public tranquillity. In this view, and in order to manifest the purity of their intentions in this respect, their said majesties have determined to make the following declaration, viz.--
“That they are ready to send plenipotentiaries to the place which, shall be thought most proper, in order there to treat, conjointly, of a solid and general peace with those whom the belligerent parties should think fit to authorize, on their part, for the attaining so salutary an end.”]
[Footnote 529: Note 4 F, p. 529. _Abstract of the report made to his Catholic majesty by the physicians appointed to examine the prince royal, his eldest son, in consequence of which his royal highness was declared incapable of succeeding to the throne of Spain. Translated from the original, published at Naples, Sept. 27._
1. Though his royal highness don Philip is thirteen years old, he is of low stature; and yet the king his father, and the queen his mother, are both of a very proper height.
2. His royal highness has some contraction in his joints; though he can readily move, and make use of them upon all occasions.
3. His royal highness is apt to stoop and to hold down his head as people of weak eyes often do.
4. The prince most evidently squints: and his eyes frequently water and are gummy, particularly his left eye: though we cannot say he is blind, but are rather certain of the contrary, as his royal highness can without doubt distinguish objects, both as to their colour and situation.
5. In his natural functions, and the most common sensations, he is sometimes indifferent to things that are convenient for him, and at other times is too warm and impetuous. In general, his passions are not restrained by reason.
6. The prince has an obstinate aversion to some kind of common food, such as fruits, sweetmeats, &c.
7. All sorts of noise or sound disturb and disconcert him; and it has the same effect whether it be soft and harmonious, or harsh and disagreeable.
8. The impressions that he receives from pain or pleasure are neither strong nor lasting; and he is utterly unacquainted with all the punctilios of politeness and good-breeding.
9. As to facts and places, he sometimes remembers them, and sometimes not; but he seems not to have the least idea of the mysteries of our holy religion.
10. He delights in childish amusements; and those which are the most boisterous please him best. He is continually changing them, and shifting from one thing to another.
Signed by Don Francis Beniore, chief physician to the king and kingdom; Don Emmanuel de la Rosa, physician to the queen; and the physicians Cæsar Ciribue, Don Thomas Pinto, Don Francis Sarrao, and Don Dominique San Severino.]
[Footnote 535: Note 4 G, p. 535. By this law it was enacted, that if any militia-man, who shall have been accepted and enrolled as a substitute, hired man, or volunteer, before the passing of the act, or who shall have been chosen by lot, whether before or after the passing of the act, shall, when embodied, or called out into actual service, and ordered to march, leave a family unable to support themselves, the overseers shall, by order of some one justice of the peace, pay out of the poor’s rates of such parish a weekly allowance to such family, according to the usual and ordinary price of labour and husbandry there; viz. for one child under the age of ten years, the price of one day’s labour; for two children under the age aforesaid, the price of two days’ labour; for three or four children under the age aforesaid, the price of three days’ labour; for five or more children under the age aforesaid, the price of four days’ labour; and for the wife of such militia-man, the price of one day’s labour; but that the families of such men only as shall be chosen by lot, and of the substitutes, hired men, and volunteers already accepted and enrolled, shall, after the passing of this act, receive any such weekly allowance. For removing the grievance complained of in the above petition, it is enacted, that where treasurers shall reimburse to overseers any money in pursuance of this act, on account of the weekly allowance to the family of any militia-man serving in the militia of any county or place other than that wherein such family shall dwell, they are to transmit an account thereof, signed by some justice for the place where such family shall dwell, to the treasurer of the county, &c. in the militia whereof such militia-man shall serve, who is thereupon to pay him the sum so reimbursed to such overseers, and the same to be allowed in his accounts.]
[Footnote 536: Note 4 H, p. 536. The openings to be made, and the passages to be improved and enlarged, were ascertained by two schedules annexed to the act. With respect to the houses, buildings, and grounds to be purchased, the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city, in common council assembled, or a committee appointed by them, were empowered to fix the price by agreement, with the respective proprietors, or otherwise by a jury in the usual manner. With regard to party-walls, the act ordains, that the proprietor of either adjoining house may compel the proprietor of the other to agree to its being pulled down and rebuilt, and pay a moiety of the expense even though it should not be necessary to pull down or rebuild either of their houses: that all party-walls shall be at least two bricks and a half in thickness in the cellar, and two bricks thick upwards to the top of the garret-floor. It enacts, that if any decayed house belongs to several proprietors, any one of them, who is desirous to rebuild, may oblige the others to concur, and join with him in the expense, or purchase their shares at a price to be fixed by a jury. If any house should hereafter be presented by any inquest or grand jury in London, as being in a ruinous condition, the court of mayor and aldermen is, by this act, empowered to pull it down at the expense of the ground landlords. As to damaged pavements, not sufficiently repaired by the proprietors of the water-works, any justice of the peace in London is vested with power, upon their refusing or delaying to make it good, to cause it to be effectually relaid with good materials at their expense.]
[Footnote 538: Note 4 I, p. 538. The following declaration made to the chiefs of the opposition will render the memory of the late prince of Wales dear to latest posterity:--
His royal highness has authorized lord T. and sir F. D. to give the most positive assurances to the gentlemen in the opposition, of his upright intentions; that he is thoroughly convinced of the distresses and calamities that have befallen, and every day are more likely to befal this country; and therefore invites all well wishers to this country and its constitution to coalesce and unite with him, and upon the following principle only.--
His royal highness promises, and will declare it openly, that it is his intention totally to abolish any distinctions for the future of parties; and as far as lies in his power, and as soon as it does lie in his power, to take away for ever all proscription from any set of men whatever who are friends to the constitution; and therefore will promote for the present, and when it is in his power will immediately grant,--
First, A bill to empower all gentlemen to act as justices of the peace, paying land-tax for £300 per annum in any county where he intends to serve.
Secondly, His royal highness promises, in like manner, to support, and forthwith grant, whenever he shall have it in his power, a bill to create and establish a numerous and effectual militia throughout the kingdom.
Thirdly, His royal highness promises, in like manner, to promote and support, and likewise grant, when it is in his power, a bill to exclude all military officers in the land-service under the degree of colonels of regiments, and in the sea-service under the degree of rear-admirals, from sitting in the house of commons.
Fourthly, His royal highness promises that he will, when in his power, grant inquiries into the great number of abuses in offices, and does not doubt of the assistance of all honest men, to enable him to correct the same for the future.
Fifthly, His royal highness promises, and will openly declare, that he will make no agreement with, or join in the support of, any administration whatever, without previously obtaining the above-mentioned points in behalf of the people, and for the sake of good government. Upon these conditions, and these conditions only, his royal highness thinks he has a right not to doubt of having a most cordial support from all those good men who mean their country and this constitution well, and that they will become his and his family’s friends, and unite with him, to promote the good government of this country, and that they will follow him, upon these principles, both in court and out of court; and if he should live to form an administration, it should be composed, without distinction, of men of dignity, knowledge, and probity. His royal highness further promises to accept of no more, if offered to him, than £800,000 for his civil list, by way of rent-charge.
_Answer to the foregoing proposal._
The lords and gentlemen to whom a paper has been communicated, containing his royal highness the prince’s gracious intentions upon several weighty and important points, of the greatest consequence to the honour and interest of his majesty’s government, and absolutely necessary for the restoring and perpetuating the true use and design of parliament, the purity of our excellent constitution, and the happiness and welfare of the whole nation, do therein with the greatest satisfaction observe, and most gratefully acknowledge, the uprightness and generosity of his royal highness’s noble sentiments and resolutions. And therefore beg leave to return their most dutiful and humble thanks for the same: and to assure his royal highness that they will constantly and steadily use their utmost endeavours to support those his wise and salutary purposes, that the throne may be strengthened, religion and morality encouraged, faction and corruption destroyed, the purity and essence of parliament restored, and the happiness and welfare of our constitution preserved.
When the above answer was returned to the prince, there were present, The Duke of B.--The Earl of L.--The Earl of S.--The Earl of T.--The Earl of W.--The Earl of S.--Lord F.--Lord W.--Sir Wat. Wil. Wynne.--Sir John H. C--Sir Walter B.--Sir Robert G.--Mr. F.--Mr. F.--Mr. C.]
[Footnote 547: Note 4 K, p. 547.
Ultimo die Octobris anno ab incarnationo
MDCCLX.
Auspicatissimo principe Georgio Tertio
Regnnm jam ineunte,
Pontis hujus, in reipublicæ commodum
Urbisque majestatem
(Latè turn flagrante bello)
à S. P. Q. L. suscepti,
Primum lapidem posuit
Thomas Chitty, miles,
Prætor;
Roberto Mylne, architecte
Utque apud posteros extet monumentum
Voluntatis suæ erga virum,
Qui vigore ingenii, animi constantia,
Probitatis et virtutis suæ felici quâdam contagione,
(Favente Deo,
Fautisque Georgii Secundi auspiciis!)
Imperium Britannicum
In Asia, Africa, et America
Restituit, auxit, et stabilivit;
Necnon patriæ antiquum honorem et auctoritateni
Inter Europæ gentes instauravit;
Gives Londinenses, uno consensu,
Huic ponti inscribi voluerunt nomen
GULIELMI PITT.]
[Footnote 549: Note 4 L, p. 549. This attempt was conducted in the following manner, having doubtless been concerted with the two-and-twenty hostages who resided in the fort. On the sixteenth day of February, two Indian women appearing at Keowee, on the other side of the river, Mr. Dogharty, one of the officers of the fort, went out to ask them what news. While he was engaged in conversation with these females, the great Indian warrior Ocunnastota joined them, desired he would call the commanding officer, to whom he said he had something to propose. Accordingly, lieutenant Cotymore appearing, accompanied by ensign Bell, Dogharty, and Foster the interpreter, Ocunnastota told him he had something of consequence to impart to the governor, whom he proposed to visit, and desired he might be attended by a white man as a safeguard. The lieutenant assuring him he should have a safeguard, the Indian declared he would then go and catch a horse for him; so saying, he swung a bridle twice over his head, as a signal; and immediately twenty-five or thirty muskets, from different ambuscades, were discharged at the English officers. Mr. Cotymore received a shot in his left breast, and in a few days expired: Mr. Bell was wounded in the calf of the left leg, and the interpreter in the buttock. Ensign Milne, who remained in the fort, was no sooner informed of this treachery, than he ordered the soldiers to shackle the hostages; in the execution of which order one man was killed on the spot, and another wounded in his forehead with a tomahawk; circumstances which, added to the murder of the lieutenant, incensed the garrison to such a degree, that it was judged absolutely necessary to put the hostages to death without further hesitation. In the evening a party of Indians approached the fort, and firing two signal pieces, cried aloud in the Cherokee language--“Fight manfully, and you shall be assisted.” They then began an attack; and continued firing all night upon the fort, without doing the least execution. That a design was concerted between them and the hostages appeared plainly from the nature of the assault; and this suspicion was converted into a certainty next day, when some of the garrison, searching the apartment in which the hostages lay, found a bottle of poison, probably designed to be emptied into the well, and several tomahawks buried in the earth; which weapons had been privately conveyed to them by their friends, who were permitted to visit them without interruption. On the third day of March, the fort of Ninety-six was attacked by two hundred Cherokee Indians with musketry, which had little or no effect; so that they were forced to retire with some loss, and revenged themselves on the open country, burning and ravaging all the houses and plantations belonging to English settlers in this part of the country, and all along the frontiers of Virginia. Not contented with pillaging and destroying the habitations, they wantoned in the most horrible barbarities; and their motions were so secret and sudden, that it was impossible for the inhabitants to know where the storm would burst, or take proper precautions for their own defence; so that a great number of the back settlements were totally abandoned.]
[Footnote 550: Note 4 M, p. 550. The garrison of Quebec, during the winter, repaired above five hundred houses which had been damaged by the English cannon, built eight redoubts of wood, raised foot-banks along the ramparts, opened embrasures, mounted artillery, blocked up all the avenues of the suburbs with a stockade, removed eleven months’ provisions into the highest parts of the city, and formed a magazine of four thousand fascines. Two hundred men were posted at Saint Foix, and twice the number at Lorette. Several hundred men marched to Saint Augustin, brought off the enemy’s advanced guard, with a great number of cattle, and disarmed the inhabitants. By these precautions the motions of the French were observed, the avenues of Quebec were covered, and their dominions secured over eleven parishes, which furnished them with some fresh provisions, and other necessaries for subsistence. Sixteen thousand cords of wood being wanted for the hospitals, guards, and quarters, and the method of transporting it from the isle of Orleans being found slow and difficult, on account of the floating ice in the river, a sufficient number of hand-sledges were made, and two hundred wood-fellers set at work in the forest of Saint Foix, where plenty of fuel was obtained, and brought into the several regiments by the men that were not upon duty. A detachment of two hundred men being sent to the other side of the river, disarmed the inhabitants, and compelled them to take the oath of allegiance: by this step the English became masters of the southern side of St. Laurence, and were supplied with good quantities of fresh provision. The advanced posts of the enemy were established at Point au Tremble, Saint Augustin, and Le Calvaire; the main body of their army quartered between Trois Rivieres and Jaques Quartier. Their general, having formed the design of attacking Quebec in the winter, began to provide snow-shoes or rackets, scaling-ladders, and fascines, and make all the necessary preparations for that enterprise. He took possession of Point Levi, where he formed a magazine of provisions; great part of which, however, fell into the hands of the English; for, as soon as the river was frozen over, brigadier Murray despatched thither two hundred men; at whose approach the enemy abandoned their magazine, and retreated with great precipitation. Here the detachment took post in a church until they could build two wooden redoubts, and mount them with artillery. In the meantime, the enemy returning with a greater force to recover the post, some battalions, with the light infantry, marched over the ice, in order to cut off their communication; but they fled with great confusion, and afterwards took post at Saint Michael, at a considerable distance farther down the river. They now resolved to postpone the siege of Quebec, that they might carry it on in a more regular manner. They began to rig their ships, repair their small craft, build galleys, cast bombs and bullets, and prepare fascines and gabions; while brigadier Murray employed his men in making preparations for a vigorous defence. He sent out a detachment, who surprised the enemy’s posts at Saint Augustin, Maison Brûlée, and Le Calvaire, where they took ninety prisoners. He afterwards ordered the light infantry to possess and fortify Cape Bouge, to prevent the enemy’s landing at that place, as well as to be nearer at hand to observe their motions; but when the frost broke up, so that their ships could fall down the river, they landed at Saint Augustin; and the English posts were abandoned one after another, the detachments retiring without loss into the city.]
[Footnote 558: Note 4 N, p. 558. _A translation of the Declaration delivered by the Austrian minister residing at the Hague, to his serene highness Prince Louis of Brunswick, in answer to that which his highness had delivered on the part of his Britannic Majesty and the King of Prussia, on the 25th of November, 1759, to the ministers of the belligerent powers._
“Their Britannic and Prussian majesties having thought proper to make known, by the declaration delivered, on their part, at the Hague, the 25th of November last past, to the ambassadors and ministers of the courts of Vienna, Petersburgh, and Versailles, residing there:
“‘That being sincerely desirous of contributing to the re-establishment of the public tranquillity, they were ready to send plenipotentiaries to the place that shall be judged the most convenient, in order to treat there of this important object with those which the belligerent parties shall think proper to authorize on their side for attaining so salutary an end:’
“Her majesty the empress queen of Hungary and Bohemia, her majesty the empress of all the Russias, and his majesty the most Christian king, equally animated by the desire of contributing to the re-establishment of the public tranquillity, on a solid and equitable footing, declare in return,--
“That his majesty the Catholic king having been pleased to offer his mediation in the war which had subsisted for some years between France and England; and this war having besides nothing in common with that which the two empresses, with their allies, have likewise carried on for some years against the king of Prussia;
“His most Christian majesty is ready to treat of his particular peace with England, through the good offices of his Catholic majesty, whose mediation he has a pleasure in accepting;
“As to the war which regards directly his Prussian majesty, their majesties, the empress queen of Hungary and Bohemia, the empress of all the Russias, and the most Christian king, are disposed to agree to the appointing the congress proposed. But as, by virtue of their treaties, they cannot enter into any engagement relating to peace but in conjunction with their allies, it will be necessary, in order that they may be enabled to explain themselves definitively upon that subject, that their Britannic and Prussian majesties should previously be pleased to cause their invitation to a congress to be made to all the powers that are directly engaged in war against the king of Prussia; and namely, to his majesty the king of Poland, elector of Saxony, as likewise to his majesty the king of Sweden, who ought specifically to be invited to the future congress.”]
[Footnote 561: Note 4 O, p. 561. _Copy of a Letter from the marquis of Granby to the earl of Holdernesse._ My Lord, It is with the greatest satisfaction that I have the honour of acquainting your lordship of the success of the hereditary prince yesterday morning.
General Sporcken’s corps marched from the camp at Kalle to Liebenau, about four in the afternoon of the twenty-ninth; the hereditary prince followed the same evening with a body of troops, among which were the two English battalions of grenadiers, the two of Highlanders, and four squadrons of dragoons, Cope’s and Conway’s.
The army was under arms all day on the thirtieth, and about eleven at night marched off, in six columns, to Liebenau. About five the next morning, the whole army be assembled, and formed on the heights near Corbeke. The hereditary prince was, at this time, marching in two columns, in order to turn the enemy’s left flank; which he did by marching to Donhelbourg, leaving Klein-Eder on his left, and forming in two lines, with the left towards Dossel, and his right near Grimbeck, opposite to the left flank of the enemy, whose position was with the left to the high hill near Offendorf, and their right to Warbourg, into which place they had flung Fischer’s corps. The hereditary prince immediately attacked the enemy’s flank, and, after a very sharp dispute, obliged them to give way, and, by a continual fire, kept forcing them to fall back upon Warbourg. The army was at this time marching with the greatest diligence to attack the enemy in front, but the infantry could not get up in time: general Waldegrave, at the head of the British, pressed their march as much as possible: no troops could show more eagerness to get up than they showed. Many of the men, from the heat of the weather, and overstraining themselves to get on through morassy and very difficult ground, suddenly dropped down on their march.
General Mostyn, who was at the head of the British cavalry that was formed on the right of our infantry on the other side of a large wood, upon receiving the duke’s orders to come up with the cavalry as fast as possible, made so much expedition, bringing them up at full trot, though the distance was near five miles, that the British cavalry had the happiness to arrive in time to share the glory of the day, having successfully charged several times both the enemy’s cavalry and infantry.
I should do injustice to the general officers, to every officer and private man of the cavalry, if I did not beg your lordship would assure his majesty that nothing could exceed their gallant behaviour on that occasion.
Captain Philips made so much expedition with his cannon, as to have an opportunity, by a severe cannonade, to oblige those who had passed the Dymel, and were formed on the other side, to retire with the utmost precipitation.
I received his serene highness’s orders yesterday, in the evening, to pass the river after them, with twelve British battalions and ten squadrons, and am now encamped upon the heights of Wilda, about four miles from Warbourg, on the heights of which their grand army is encamped.
M. de Muy is now retiring from the heights of Volk-Missen, where he lay under arms last night, towards Wolfshagen. I cannot give your lordship any account of the loss on either side. Captain Faucitt, whom I send off with this, shall get all the intelligence he can upon this head before he sets off. I am, &c,
GRANBY.
Saturday morning, six o’clock.
P.S.--As I had not an opportunity of sending off captain Faucitt so soon as I intended, I opened my letter to acquaint your lordship that I have just joined the grand army with my detachment.]
[Footnote 564: Note 4 P, p. 564. The Germans are in general but indifferent engineers, and little acquainted with the art of besieging. On this occasion the Austrian general had no other prospect than that of carrying the place by a sudden attack, or intimidating count Tavenzein, the governor, to an immediate surrender: for he knew the Russian army was at a considerable distance; and judged, from the character of prince Henry of Prussia, that he would advance to the relief of the place long before it would be taken according to the usual forms. Influenced by these considerations, when he had invested the town, he sent a letter to the governor, specifying that his army consisted of fifty battalions, and fourscore squadrons; that the Russian army, amounting to seventy-five thousand men, was within three days’ march of Breslau; that no succour could be expected from the king of Prussia, encamped as he was on the other side of the Elbe, and overawed by the army of count Daun; that prince Henry, far from being in a condition to bring relief, would not be able to stand his ground against the Russians; that Breslau, being an open mercantile town (not a fortress), could not be defended without contravening the established rules of war; and therefore the governor, in case of obstinacy, had no reason to expect an honourable capitulation, the benefit of which was now offered. He, at the same time, sent a memorial to the civil magistrates, threatening the town with destruction, which could by no other means be prevented than by joining with the inhabitants in persuading the governor to embrace immediately the terms that were proposed. Count Tavenzein, instead of being intimidated, was encouraged by these menaces, which implied an apprehension in Laudolm that the place would be relieved. He therefore replied to the summons he had received, that Breslau was not simply a mercantile town, but ought to be considered as a place of strength, as being surrounded with works and wet ditches; that the Austrians themselves had defended it as such after the battle of Lissa, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven; that the king his master having commanded him to defend the place to the last extremity, he could neither comply with general Laudohn’s proposals, nor pay the least regard to his threat of destroying the town; as he had not been intrusted with the care of the houses, but with the defence of the fortifications. The Austrian convinced him that same evening, that he threatened nothing but what he meant to perform. He opened his batteries, and poured in upon the town a most terrible shower of bombs and red-hot bullets, which continued till midnight. During this dreadful discharge, which filled the place with horror and desolation, he attempted the outworks by assault. The Croats attacked the covered way in different places with their usual impetuosity; but were repulsed with considerable loss, by the conduct and resolution of the governor and garrison. These proceedings having made no impression on Tavenzein, the besieging general had recourse again to negotiation; and offered the most flattering articles of capitulation, which were rejected with disdain. The governor gave him to understand, that the destruction of the town had made no change in his resolution; though it was a practice contrary to the law of arms, as well as to the dictates of common humanity, to begin the siege of a fortress by ruining the inhabitants; finally, he assured him he would wait for him upon the ramparts, and defend the place to the utmost of his power. His observation was certainly just: nothing could be more infamously inhuman than this practice of making war upon the helpless unarmed inhabitants of a town which has the misfortune to be beleaguered; yet the besieger pleaded the example of the Prussian monarch, who had before acted the same tragedy at Dresden. Laudohn being thus set at defiance, continued to batter and bombard; and several subsequent assaults were given to the fortifications.]